Are physical laws merely descriptive distillations of what we observe? Or are physical laws actively prescriptive - do they actually "govern" the course of events?
If they only describe, then they don't count as true explanations of reality - they are only calculational devices, useful for making predictions, but only metaphorically (and not metaphysically) true.
But if they actively prescribe - then what enforces their consistent application? And what enforces the enforcement? And what enforces the enforcement of the enforcement? And so on...
Where do you stand on scientific realism vs. instrumentalism?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Time
Date: 2011-11-28 11:44 pm (UTC)Are physical laws merely descriptive distillations of what we observe? Or are physical laws actively prescriptive - do they actually "govern" the course of events?
If they only describe, then they don't count as true explanations of reality - they are only calculational devices, useful for making predictions, but only metaphorically (and not metaphysically) true.
But if they actively prescribe - then what enforces their consistent application? And what enforces the enforcement? And what enforces the enforcement of the enforcement? And so on...
Where do you stand on scientific realism vs. instrumentalism?