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Contribution to Philosophy of Science
Since 1971, Nancy Cartwright has been an educator and professional philosopher of science. Cartwright's studies have focused on realism and phenomenological laws over fundamentalism. She is currently the President of The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. -
How the Laws of Physics Lie
Cartwright's publication of a collection of her essays gained her notoriety for her radical view that the fundamental laws of physics do not state truths about the world. She argued that fundamental law is very useful for abstract explanation, but should yield influence to law derived from observable phenomena. Cartwright, Nancy. How the Laws of Physics Lie. Clarendon Press, 2010. -
Nature's Capacities and their Measurement
In this book, Cartwright endeavors to dispel criticism from her previous work in regard to Humean skepticism. Since Cartwright suggests that science shift focus from finding fundamental law, she undermines the concept that causes are instances of laws. Instead, she asserts that causes should be investigated in terms of capacities. Cartwright, Nancy. Nature's Capacities and Their Measurement. Clarendon Press, 2010. -
The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science
This book continues Cartwright's criticism of scientific fundamentalism while bringing light to her view that the lack of unified theories across scientific domains is not simply due to current human limitation, but is because the universe lacks unified structure. Cartwright, Nancy. The Dappled World: a Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010. -
Hunting Causes and Using Them: Approaches in Philosophy and Economics
"Hunting Causes and Using Them: Approaches in Philosophy and Economics," explains that despite common thought causality has various defining characteristics, applications of causal laws, and methods of testing differing causal laws. Cartwright, Nancy. Hunting Causes and Using Them: Approaches in Philosophy and Economics. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
