1. Introduction

Author: van Fraassen, Bas C.

Source: Laws and Symmetry, November 1989 , pp. 1-15(15)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

The historical role of the concept of a law of nature in medieval and early modern physics engendered a view of science as continuous with metaphysics, which has tended to dominate philosophy of nature and of science. Meanwhile, with the development of mathematical methods, the advanced sciences began to focus on the structural characteristics and constraints of models, now generally described in terms of symmetry. Simple historical examples illustrate this trend.

Keywords: philosophy of science; mathematical methods; modern physics; law of nature; symmetry; metaphysics; history of physics

Document Type: Research article

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