laws of nature

gravity

Mutual mass attraction

• thermodynamicsScience of heat-energy relationships
• electromagnetismForce linking charge and magnetism
• relativityHow observers differ

quantum mechanics · conservation · entropy · motion · force · energy · mass · inertia · momentum · causality

causality

Cause-effect connection

• determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
• necessityIndispensable requirement
• teleologyStudy of purpose in nature

essentialism · naturalism · mechanism · reductionism · emergence · order · regularity · predictability · uniformity · providence

constant

Fixed, unvarying quantity

• unchangingNot varying at all
• eternalLasting without end
• invariableNot subject to change

perpetual · enduring · fixed · absolute · universal · inviolable · fundamental · timeless · permanent · steadfast

hypothesis

Testable proposed explanation

• theoryExplanatory set of principles
• empiricismKnowledge through observation
• observationAttentive watching or remark

experimentation · verification · falsifiability · prediction · replication · peer review · constants · equations · models · measurement

evolution

Species changing over generations

• geneticsScience of hereditary transmission
• inheritanceProperty received from ancestors
• adaptationFitting to new conditions

survival · reproduction · metabolism · homeostasis · symbiosis · predation · competition · speciation · mutation · ecological balance

• Philosophy of Scienceepistemology, scientific method, falsifiability, hypothesis, theory
• natural philosophyphysics, mechanics, matter, motion, chemistry
• Natural Orderbalance, harmony, equilibrium, cycles, order
• HobbesThomas Hobbes, Leviathan, social contract, sovereign, commonwealth
• Physics Philosophydeterminism, causality, spacetime, measurement problem, hidden variables
• KantKant, categorical imperative, a priori, thing-in-itself, noumena