CEFISES Seminar: Kristina Engelhard, « Powers BSAs and Cognitive Capacities. A Powerful Capacitist Theory of Laws of Nature »

Series: MEPHISTO (MEtaphysics and PHIlosophy of Science: Transcendental Orientations)

Speaker: Kristina Engelhard (Trier University)

Title: « Powers BSAs and Cognitive Capacities. A Powerful Capacitist Theory of Laws of Nature »

Abstract

This talk sketches and explores the outlines of a new theory of the laws of nature, according to which laws, understood as both law facts and law propositions, can be grounded on two kinds of powers: physical and cognitive powers. This theory is called the Powerful Capacitist Theory of Laws (PTLPC). This approach combines an ontological and an epistemological perspective on laws. One version of this account is Powers BSA, which has recently been discussed in the literature. Like the Powers BSA, the PTLPC can explain epistemic features connected to the laws of nature, such as the relationship of laws and theories to scientific practices. However, it is superior to recent Powers BSAs in that it can provide a unified and systematic account of this dualism. In part one I discuss the PBSA account and Friend’s objection to; I then show in part two that a powers theory of laws including powerful capacitism — the view that there are cognitive powers bringing about cognitive outputs such as intuitions, propositions, inferences, and theories — is unaffected by Friend’s objections. Section three sketches a metaphysics of cognitive powers. Section four outlines how a powers theory including powerful capacitism grounds the laws of nature. Finally, section five concludes the results of this investigation.