On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature"
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- openalex:w2578546036
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- Mauro Dorato
- Reported year
- 2005
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- en
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- article
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Documentary abstract — original language
The main purpose of this paper is to shed some light on two important historical processes which, in my view, have essentially contributed to the establishment of the modern, purely descriptive, non-normative concept of “law of nature ” in the scientific domain: the influence of the technological development on our ways of representing nature, and the belief in an omnipotent creator imposing his immutable will to nature.1 Allow me to note, first of all, that in the following I will be distinguishing between laws of science and laws of nature. The former refers to the linguistic and conceptual instruments that are used in science to represent regularities in nature; the latter, if real, should be regarded as whatever is represented or denoted by the former, and therefore as something that exists independently of us. In a word, the distinction in question is that between a truth-bearer – namely a law of science, which in physics usually corresponds to a differential equation – and the truth-maker – the law of nature itself, which, if anything, is whatever there is in nature that makes our equations either true, or at least approximately true. Unless otherwise specified, in trying to highlight the origins of the notion of “law of nature”, by this expression I will be referring to the truth-maker and not to the truth-bearer. 1 For a more thorough historical reconstruction of the transition from a normative to a purely descriptive notion
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- W2578546036
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Cite this reference
Mauro Dorato. On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature". 2005. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-e1b72933ad3a455f9f080082c5ed8ed4/
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- APA
- Mauro Dorato. (2005). On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature". https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-e1b72933ad3a455f9f080082c5ed8ed4/
- Chicago
- Mauro Dorato. On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature". 2005. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-e1b72933ad3a455f9f080082c5ed8ed4/
- ISO 690
- Mauro Dorato. On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature". 2005. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-e1b72933ad3a455f9f080082c5ed8ed4/
UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. On the technological and theological roots of the notion of “law of nature". Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-e1b72933ad3a455f9f080082c5ed8ed4/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed
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Version e962b85a6bb7508a · udtr-reference-1.1.2
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- OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
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- OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
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- OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
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89107ab9d1b5a216 · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
e36040a4c4c20cfc · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
4cb7ba3099a69174 · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
e962b85a6bb7508a · 2026-11-09T19:14:54.818307+00:00
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