On Physical Necessity

Abstract

In the article an attempt was made to give an answer to the question: what is physical (natural) necessity. As a background for the considerations o f physical necessity remarks were formulated about metaphysical and logical necessity as well as the most general assumptions were shown concerning the order existing in nature, acceptance of which is made possible by the fact that natural sciences exist in the contemporary shape known to us.

A lot of attention was devoted to the laws of nature. It was shown that there are advocates and opponents of the modal theory of such laws. It was remarked that for historical reasons it is possible to talk about the so-called physical necessity but it is only an assumed, analogous necessity. Necessity of relations occurring between events, which relations formulated cognitively express the laws of nature, is different from necessity of relations stated in the laws of the classical logical calculus and in metaphysics’ particular theses. It was emphasised that it is possible to think of a situation in which relations expressed in the laws of nature that occur always and everywhere could be different than they actually are.