Editing Law (principle)

{{Short description|Universal principle}}
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A '''law''' is a universal principle that describes the fundamental nature of something, the universal properties and the relationships between things, or a description that purports to explain these principles and relationships.

== Laws of nature ==

{{Further|Physical law}}

For example, physical laws such as the [[gravity|law of gravity]] or [[scientific law]]s attempt to describe the fundamental nature of the universe itself. Laws of [[mathematics]] and [[logic]] describe the nature of rational thought and inference ([[Immanuel Kant|Kant]]'s [[transcendental idealism]], and differently [[G. Spencer-Brown]]'s work ''[[Laws of Form]]'', was precisely a determination of the ''[[A priori and a posteriori (philosophy)|a priori]]'' laws governing human thought before any interaction whatsoever with experience).

Within most fields of study, and in science in particular, the elevation of some principle of that field to the status of law usually takes place after a very long time during which the principle is used and tested and verified; though in some fields of study such laws are simply postulated as a foundation and assumed. Mathematical laws are somewhere in between: they are often arbitrary and unproven in themselves, but they are sometimes judged by how useful they are in making predictions about the real world. However, they ultimately rely on arbitrary [[axioms]].

== Laws in social sciences ==

The question of whether "laws" can be applied to the social sciences in the same way as the natural sciences has been debated for many years. <ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=McIntylre |first=Lee C. |title=Laws and Explanation in the Social Sciences: Defending a Science of Human Behavior |date=1996 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-3648-1 |location=Boulder, Colorado |pages=1–2,189}}</ref> Philosophers such as [[Lee McIntyre]] are optimistic that "law-like" explanations of human behavior can be valid and useful.<ref name=":0" />

Laws of [[economics]] are an attempt in [[modelization]] of economic behavior. [[Marxism]] criticized the [[belief]] in eternal laws of economics, which it considered a product of the [[ideology#Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction|dominant ideology]]. It claimed that in fact, those so-called laws of economics were only the historical laws of [[capitalism]], that is of a particular historical social formation. With the advent, in the 20th century, of the application of mathematical, statistical, and experimental techniques to economics, economic theory matured into a corpus of knowledge rooted in the scientific method rather than in philosophical argument.

==Miscellaneous==

Finally, the term is sometimes applied to less rigorous ideas that may be interesting observations or relationships, practical or ethical guidelines (also called [[rule of thumb|rules of thumb]]), and even humorous parodies of such laws.

Examples of scientific laws include [[Boyle's law]] of gases, [[conservation law]]s, [[Ohm's law]], and others. Laws of other fields of study include [[Occam's razor]] as a principle of [[philosophy]] and [[Say's law]] in [[economics]]. Examples of observed phenomena often described as laws include the [[Titius-Bode law]] of planetary positions, [[Zipf's law]] of linguistics, [[Thomas Malthus]]'s Principle of Population or [[Malthusian Growth Model]], [[Moore's law]] of technological growth. Other laws are pragmatic and observational, such as the [[Unintended consequences|law of unintended consequences]].

Some humorous parodies of such laws include [[adage]]s such as [[Murphy's law]] and its many variants, and [[Godwin's Law]] of [[Internet]] conversations.

==See also==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
* [[Epistemology]] and [[philosophy of science]]
* [[Legal doctrine|Principle of law]], [[Philosophy of law]]
* [[Legal positivism]], which states that there is no necessary relation between [[morality]] and [[law]]. Law is thus conceived as the mere product of social conventions. Legal positivism is opposed to [[natural law]] theory and to [[Interpretivism (legal)|legal interpretivism]].
*[[Scientific law]]
*[[Axiom]]s and [[Theorem]]s

== References ==
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[[Category:Concepts in the philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Principles]]
[[Category:Philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Metaphysical properties]]


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