Gila Sher, UCSD
Invariance as a Basis for Necessity and Laws
29.11.2017 20:00
At the Edelstein Center. Levi building, room 324, Edmund Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem
Properties and relations in general have a certain degree of invariance, and some types of properties/relations have a stronger degree of invariance than others. Generalizing, we can talk about the degree of invariance of whole disciplines and clusters of disciplines (physics, biology, mathematics, logic; the natural sciences). In this talk I will show how the degrees of invariance of different types of properties are associated with, and explain, the modal force of the laws governing them. I will then use the generalized notion of invariance to make first steps toward characterizing and explaining the variable modal force of the principles and laws of different theories and different disciplines.