Abstract
What is called a law of nature tends to depend on the historical circumstances in which the law was discovered or inferred. In the mathematical sciences generally, many laws can be expressed as an equation (or set of equations) which hold within a specific sphere of applicability. Our best confirmed theory of gravity is general relativity which is applicable to large scale phenomena. Quantum theory, on the other hand, is the most empirically successful theory at microscopic scales. However, we do not tend to speak of individual laws of general relativity or of quantum theory in the same way as we speak of Newton’s Laws or the Laws of Phenomological Thermodynamics.
I would like to thank Graham Nerlich, John Forge and Peter Szekeres for helpful comments.
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Riggs, P.J. (1996). Spacetime or Quantum Particles: The Ontology of Quantum Gravity?. In: Riggs, P.J. (eds) Natural Kinds, Laws of Nature and Scientific Methodology. Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8607-8_12
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