-
Nancy Cartwright's Birth
Nancy Cartwright was born on January 24th, 1844 -
How the Law of Physics Lie
One of her first book she wrote is How the Law of Physics Lie. The main purpose of this book was as she stated was "the fundamental laws of physics do not describe true facts about reality. Rendered as descriptions of facts, they are false; amended to be true, they lose their fundamental, explanatory force." (Cartwright 9) In other words theories do not reflect actual systems but instead the relationship between two different laws. -
Natures Capacities and their Measurments
In this major work of Cartwright's she goes deeper to explain how science is understood. She has three theses, science is a measurement; capacities can be measured; science cannot be understood without them. The heart of this major work is on causes and capacities and the importance of having them in science. A great example she uses is Aspirin. Aspirin has the capacity to relieve headaches but doesn't mean that it will, or that it does more often than not. Only that it has a capacity. -
The Dappled World
Nancy Cartwright most known work The Dappled World was written to study the boundaries of natural law. She focused on physics and economics in this writing. She explains what laws are and what they are not in this book. -
Nancy Cartwright Video
https://iai.tv/assets/videos/linked/HTLGI2016_607_ExplainingTheInexplicable.mp4 This video is long but goes over Cartwright's work and more current views.
