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The Department of Philosophy will be presenting the following as part of their colloquium series.
Laws of Nature - What Could They Be?
Speaker: Dr. Bryson Brown (Department of Philosophy)
Day/Date: Friday, March 17, 2023
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: M1030 (Markin Hall)
Laws of nature are invoked in many inferences that we are confident of. For example, my letting go of a book while standing in the middle of our living room would be followed by the book falling to the floor (and not to the book floating in air beside me). We are very confident about such inferences, but, as Hume insistently asked, how do or could we justify ‘projecting’ past patterns of experience into the future? One answer points to the predicates we use to describe the world, arguing that they come with shared inference rules that must go beyond purely formal/logical reasoning. Such material reasoning is needed for our observations to have any significance beyond raw individual experience.
Everyone is welcome.
Contact:
Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | (403) 380-1894