PROPRIETÀ E LEGGI DI NATURA

Abstract

The notion of law of nature has been a major focus on the recent philosophical debate on science. In the attempt of determining what is the modal status of laws, whether they are necessary (as for necessitarianism) or contingent (as for contingentism), the recent debate has largely focused on the relationship between laws and natural properties. This contribution aims at defending a particular view on property individuation known as structuralism. According to structuralism, roughly, properties are individuated by their nomological/causal roles, and so by their relationships with the other properties and with the laws. In specific, I will defend a version of structuralism as a counterpart theory of property. Structuralism implies necessitarianism on laws of nature, and so this paper can be seen as a defense of this view as well.