Ceteris Paribus Post |
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| Authors: | John Earman John T Roberts and Sheldon Smith |
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| Institution: | (1) University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, U.S.A.;(2) Department of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, U.S.A;(3) Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO, 80217-3362, U.S.A |
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| Abstract: | Many have claimed that ceteris paribus (CP) laws are a quite legitimate feature of scientific theories, some even going so
far as to claim that laws of all scientific theories currently on offer are merely CP. We argue here that one of the common
props of such a thesis, that there are numerous examples of CP laws in physics, is false. Moreover, besides the absence of
genuine examples from physics, we suggest that otherwise unproblematic claims are rendered untestable by the mere addition
of the CP operator. Thus, “CP all Fs are Gs” when read as a straightforward statement of fact, cannot be the stuff of scientific
theory. Rather, we suggest that when ``ceteris paribus' appears in scientific works it plays a pragmatic role of pointing to more respectable claims.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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