Tyler started following the work of Michaela McSweeney, Princeton University, Philosophy.
Tyler added 2 papers
Tyler started following the work of Lars Enden, University of Washington, Philosophy.
Graduate Student, Philosophy
Thesis Title: Empiricism, Natural Regularity, and Necessity
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Michael Tooley
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About
In the first part of my dissertation, I defend a new empirical method of practicing metaphysics. The method avoids appeals to intuitions, ordinary beliefs, and the like. It does not accept basic principles of simplicity, unity, and the like. Instead, it proceeds from logic, analytic principles, and immediate experience alone. In the second part of my dissertation, I apply this method to the metaphysics and epistemology of laws of nature. I argue that there are excellent empirical reasons to accept governing laws instead of laws that reduce to other features of the world. The central idea is that observed natural regularities constitute strong evidence in favor of the theory that there are governing laws (and against all competing theories). Further, I argue that the only intelligible account of governing laws is one according to which the connection between law and regularity is an irreducible necessary connection. Thus, the second part of my dissertation constitutes a new argument for metaphysically interesting a posteriori necessities.
