The nature of laws

Abstract

The basic thesis of this paper is that an adequate account of the truth conditions of nomological statements requires a realist view of universals. By taking a ramsey-Lewis view of theoretical terms, One can introduce terms referring to contingent, Irreducible relations among universals which can serve as the truth-Makers for laws. And given such an analysis, One can derive the familiar properties of laws, Including their formal properties, The fact that nomological operators involve non-Extensional contexts, The fact that laws support subjunctive conditionals, And the fact that they can be confirmed by a small number of observations of the proper sort.