Scientific law

In a narrower science-theoretical paraphrase, a law of nature in the real sciences represents a description of regularities in the behavior of objects that is abstracted from the behavior of individual objects and that applies independently of any human evaluation.

Laws of nature are often part of a scientific theory and can be expressed with mathematical formulas. These abstractions describe possible worlds; which of them correspond to the real world is an empirical question.

Laws of nature apply independently of human observation. They cannot be made by humans, but only discovered by them. The laws of nature are explored, on the one hand, to understand the world, and on the other hand, to apply and use the knowledge gained. Not the mere perception of nature with our senses, but only the "laws of nature create reality". "Direct experience reveals only a fraction of natural phenomena."

The laws of nature are structured into domains and build on each other hierarchically. Together with the development of their objects and systems, the associated laws also develop. Individual laws are combined into theories as far as possible. The interpretation of the laws and theories of the experiential scientific domains as laws of nature is called ontological naturalism. However, whether all scientific laws can be traced back to physical laws about elementary particles and forces is questionable. This problem, which affects both subfields of physics and the relationship to the other natural sciences, is treated under the catchword "emergence". In some empirical sciences outside physics, it has therefore become customary - also because of the limited scope - to dispense with the term "law" and to speak instead of "rules".

There are different types of laws of nature: Deterministic cause-effect relationships that can be represented as mathematical functions and numbers (examples: laws of mechanics and electrodynamics), statements about static averages (examples: thermodynamics, theory of ideal gases), statements about collective probabilities (quantum theory), or deterministic-chaotic behavior in emergent self-organized processes. Laws of nature are always and everywhere valid, but their formulation can only be correct under restrictions. Therefore, it must be further developed as soon as new assured knowledge is gained or its scope is to be extended. To investigate and verify the laws of nature and the laws of other empirical sciences, the experiential method of work is used, which consists of the phases of observations, recognition of regularities, hypothesis, measurements, predictions, verification, development of a theory, and so on. Even the predictions of a hypothesis that have not yet been observed must be verified as far as possible.

• Physics: Newton's law of gravity, conservation laws...
• Chemistry: periodic table, structure principle, Grimm's hydride displacement theorem...
• Biology: Biogenetic basic rule