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MLA Citations of Greatest Works
• Cartwright, Nancy. How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford University Press. 1983.
• Cartwright, Nancy. Natures Capacities and Their Measurement. Oxford University Press. 1989.
• Cartwright, Nancy. The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge University Press. 1999. -
Nancy Cartwright Part 2
she published another book, several years later, titled The Dappled World, where she reveals her view of the true order of the Universe. In particular, she argues that the laws that physics and fundamentalists believe exist that claim to explain all physical phenomena and that hold true anywhere, may not exist at all (In Hartmann, Hoefer & Bovens, 2008). She argues for a “dappled” reality rather that one filled with fundamental laws (In Hartmann, Hoefer & Bovens, 2008). She states that she sees -
Nancy Cartwright Part 4
Cartwright believes there are no laws that govern nature in its entirety (or maybe we are just not clever enough to articulate them) but rather there are only laws that govern pockets of reality, in which accurate predictions can be made when precise conditions are present (In Hartmann, Hoefer & Bovens, 2008). -
Nancy Cartwright Part 1
Nancy Cartwright decided to throw a bombshell on the field of physics with her publication of her first book, How the Laws of Physics Lie, published in 1983. In this publication, she reveals her philosophy of science and states that she believes that many of the “laws” that the field of physics has come up with are only true when certain precise conditions are met and that when these conditions are not present these laws do not maintain their integrity (Cartwright, 1983). Furthermore, -
Nancy Cartwright Part 3
the universe to consist of dappled—as I interpret, pockets—areas where laws can be created to explain phenomena in that realm, but these laws (that some fundamentalists insist are universal) do not hold true in other areas of reality, therefore fundamental laws of the universe (like the ones postulated by physicists) are really only “fundamental” in that area of reality and not to reality as a whole (In Hartmann, Hoefer & Bovens, 2008). -
Nancy Cartwright Part 5
References
Cartwright, Nancy. How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford University Press. 1983.
Cartwright, Nancy. Replies. In “Nancy Cartwright's Philosophy of Science”. Edited by Hartmann, S Hoefer, C & Bovens, L, Routledge, 2008, 308-323.