Nancy Cartwright's Philosophy Of Science

Another philosopher of science, Nancy Cartwright, also argues against the unity of science by stating that the laws of physics do not define the laws of nature. She states “Nature does not ‘add’ forces. For the ‘component’ forces are not there, in any but a metaphorical sense, to be added; and the laws which say they are there must be also given a metaphysical reading” (Cartwright, 875). Cartwright distinguishes between two ways of thinking about laws. The first way is that “fundamental” laws are those hypothesized by the realists, and they are meant to describe the actual structure of the universe. The second way is that “phenomenological” laws, these laws are useful for making empirical predictions. Now, there are a number of instances in