scientific laws
Universal natural principles
Scientific laws are statements describing consistent patterns in nature, typically expressed as mathematical relationships: the law of gravity, the laws of thermodynamics.
Unlike theories, which explain why phenomena occur, laws describe what happens under specific conditions.
They're considered reliable because they've been repeatedly tested and confirmed, though they describe rather than prescribe—nature doesn't "obey" laws so much as laws summarize nature's behavior.
- universalityApplying to all cases
- universal constantsFixed values throughout nature
- engineering principlesCore concepts for construction
- Boyle's lawPressure times volume constant
- causalityCause-effect connection
cause and effect · falsifiability · predictability · experimentation · reproducibility · observation · determinism · Ohm's law · consistency · empiricism · first principles · instrumentalism · realism · hypothesis testing · mathematical · peer review · reductionism · explanatory
- Philosophy & Scienceepistemology, empiricism, rationalism, metaphysics, hypothesis testing
- mechanismmechanism, clockwork universe, Newtonian mechanics, classical mechanics, automata
- positivismpositivism, social dynamics
scientific lawshypotheses
Proposed explanations to test
theories · conjectures · speculations · guesses · assumptions
scientific lawssuperstition
Baseless belief in omens
religious dogma · folklore · mysticism · intuition · tradition
scientific lawsmiracles
Supernatural extraordinary events
anomalies · exceptions · irregularities · chaos · randomness
scientific, science, sciences, scientist, scientists, scientifically, scientism, laws, lawful