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Birth
Nancy Cartwright was born in Pennsylvania. During this time in history Franklin D. Roosevelt was president of the United States. The U.S. had yet not entered World War II, but across the globe countries were heavily entwined in it. -
How the Laws of Physics Lie
On this date Cartwright's book "How the Laws of Physics Lie" was published. This book containing a collection of radical essays was what made Cartwright first widely known for. In it "she argued that physical laws are idealizations rather than descriptions of the processes that occur in nature" (Brown). She states that the models in models in applied physics are "literal representations of how things are" (Brown). Real entities such as electrons produce the effects and there are no true laws. -
Nature's Capacities and their Measurement
Cartwright publishes her book that focuses on her contribution to the nature of causality. In this topic she details "that an understanding of causality in terms of laws should be replaced with one in terms of capacities" (Encyclopedia). This move adds doubt of if laws are needed at all in the understanding and development of science. -
The Dappled World
Cartwright's book focuses on her continuous attack on fundamentalism and how she is "skeptical about the usefulness of fundamental laws for deriving phenomenological laws" (Encyclopedia). She also emphasizes that science is about constructing models and not about searching for and developing laws. -
Why Trust Science
https://youtu.be/Jx9KSlxReAs
Nancy Cartwright gives a speech on the subject of when science should be trusted or criticized. She is currently working on writing a book on the subject. In this speech she shows how many look to science to provide answers. She identifies or questions if our trust helps or does challenge and criticism drive progress in science.
