Name: A Property Theory of Natural Laws
Start: 2026-07-07T11:00:00+1200
End: 2026-07-07T11:55:00+1200

Tuesday July 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:55am NZST

Under one conception of philosophy, we are to seek the truth under the guidance of logical reasoning. Nothing is more fundamental to that kind of philosophy than entailment—except perhaps a handful of core concepts like being and nonbeing, sameness and difference. Here, we explore a theory that grounds entailment in the being and nonbeing of properties. In a nutshell: we understand ‘properties’ to be ways for things to be. We assume that there exist ways for things to be. We understand one thing to ‘entail’ another when there is no way to avoid it. We take these occurrences of ‘to be,’ and ‘there exist,’ and ‘there is no way,’ and other such terms, as applied to ‘properties’ and ‘ways,’ with robust ontological seriousness. The same ontological seriousness applies to the kind of necessitation that is intrinsic to the laws of nature. Things obey the laws of nature because there is no way for those things to do anything else. To tease out what that means requires the construction of a detailed theory of properties construed as ways for things to be.

Speakers

John Bigelow

emeritus professor, Monash University

I had an academic career as a Philosopher and have now retired as an Emeritus Professor at Monash University, Clayton Campus, Victoria, Australia 3800. I have a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, England, and a PhD in English from Monash University, Australia... Read More →

Martin Leckey

Honorary fellow in HPS, University of Melbourne

Tuesday July 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:55am NZST
MSB1.03

Metaphysics, In Person

AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

John Bigelow

Martin Leckey

Attendees (14)

Get help with the event

AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

John Bigelow

Martin Leckey

Attendees (14)

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