Second edition, Copyright © Norman Swartz, 2003

ISBN 0-9730084-2-3 (e-version)
ISBN 0-9730084-3-1 (CD-ROM)
  
In Brief
  • Synopsis (prepared by Cambridge University Press for the first [1985] edition)
Reviews Capsule Version and Supplement The first edition (1985), Cambridge University Press, is no longer in catalog.

The second edition (2003) may be downloaded free of charge.

Download the second edition
  • The second edition, corrected and slightly revised, is being made available, free of charge, for personal (i.e. non-commercial) use only, in PDF® Adobe format.

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  • Legal Notice.

  • How to cite materials on the Internet.

  • The book may be downloaded all at once, or chapter-by-chapter.

   All at once
    One advantage in downloading the entire book in a single file is that you will then be able to use the search (/find) utility in Adobe Acrobat Reader to locate keywords (of your choosing) anywhere they occur in the book.
cpl-all.pdf (909,642 bytes)


   Chapter by chapter
    Main Menu
mainmenu.htm (7,295 bytes)
1.   Legal notice
Contents
Preface (1985)
Preface (2003)
‘Near’ laws and ‘real’ laws
chap01.pdf
pp. i – viii
pp. 1 – 13 		(78,578 bytes)
2.   Falling under a physical law
chap02.pdf
pp. 14 – 36 		(101,539 bytes)
3.   Three theories of physical law
chap03.pdf
pp. 37 – 43 		(30,979 bytes)
4.   Modal properties and modal propositions;
relative and absolute necessity
chap04.pdf
pp. 44 – 49 		(27,188 bytes)
5.   Regularity attacked / Necessitarianism defended
chap05.pdf
pp. 50 – 61 		(51,547 bytes)
6.   Failure versus doom
chap06.pdf
pp. 62 – 78 		(72,118 bytes)
7.   State-descriptions and reductions
chap07.pdf
pp. 79 – 90 		(56,278 bytes)
8.   Potentialities
chap08.pdf
pp. 91 – 104 		(57,792 bytes)
9.   Miracles and marvels
chap09.pdf
pp. 105 – 115 		(41,369 bytes)
10.   Free will and determinism
chap10.pdf 
pp. 116 – 140 		(100,652 bytes)
11.   Predictability and uniformity
chap11.pdf 
pp. 141 – 168 		(116,529 bytes)
12.   Statistical laws
chap12.pdf
pp. 169 – 185 		(67,748 bytes)
13.   Counterfactuals, numerical laws, and necessity-in-praxis
Postscript: cosmic coincidences
References
Index
chap13.pdf
pp. 186 – 220 		(133,814 bytes)


   Complementary Reading
  Professor Michael Scriven's paper, "An Essential Unpredictability in Human Behavior" inspired much of what is in Chapters 10 and 11. With his permission, and that of the copyright owner, the Perseus Books Group, I have been able to reproduce that paper on this website.
"An Essential Unpredictability in Human Behavior.pdf" (260,125 bytes)
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Complementary reading