Synopses & Reviews
Review
"...up-to-date, accurate, and incisive, and it is presented with exemplary clarity and care. The combination of these virtues make this book at once one the finest and most sophisticated contributions to the literature on laws, and a valuable place for the newcomer to begin....this book presents ingenious and forceful arguments against the reigning reductive approach to laws, and its antirealist fallback. And these same arguments also motivate an alternative, more robustly realist account of the semantics and epistemology of laws of the kind Carroll has himself begun to trace out." Mind
Review
"[Carroll]...has an impressive grasp of the literature and many things to say that specialists will find stimulating and important....his lively, unpretentious style makes the book a splendid introduction to the topics of laws and causation." The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
Review
"Anyone who is interested in the metaphysics of laws of nature should find Carroll's book stimulating and worthwhile." Michael Tooley, The Philosophical Review
Synopsis
John Carroll undertakes a careful philosophical examination of laws of nature, causation, and other related topics.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; 1. Centrality; 2. Humean analyses; 3. Humean supervenience; 4. A realist perspective; 5. Causation; 6. The limits of inquiry; Appendix A: nomic platonism; Appendix B: defending (SC); References; Index.