Status praw natury w ujęciu Davida M. Armstronga

Abstrakt

Status of Laws of Nature in David Armstrong’s view

The following paper is devoted to the metaphysical status of laws of nature in David Armstrong’s ontology. The text has been divided into three main sections. The first one presents some of the most basic principles and notions of Armstrong’s ontology, along with his theory of states of affairs and universals as their constituents — state-of-affairs types. The second part describes his theory of natural laws, which in the end he understands as causal relations between state-of-affairs types. The third section is devoted to two problems: the problem of determinable universals, which arises along with his theory of functional laws of nature and the problem of causal powers which is an implausible consequence of his theory of natural laws in general.