This is made in philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel Warbitten.

Philosophy bites is available at www

philosophy bites.com. Philosophy bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.

The 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume bequeathed to the world of philosophy a complex

conundrum that remains unresolved. When we let go of a pen it

falls to the ground. We assume that the law of gravity necessitates somehow that the

pen will fall, but in fact, said Hume, we don't actually see or experience this necessary link.

All we see is that time after time dropped objects fall to the ground,

leading us to believe that there was some necessary

connection between our letting go of the pen and its falling.

The apparent necessity, Hume claimed, is all in the mind. We have no evidence for it being in the world.

Yet the laws of nature, e.g. the law of gravity, seem to have a special status.

There's surely not a mere generalization about how the world happens to behave.

If all humans have two nostrils, we don't think that the then true claim that all humans have

two nostrils is on a par with the claim that all humans have two nostrils is on a par with the claim that all objects

left unimpeded will fall to the ground.

The latter is not just a contingent truth, it feels like a necessary truth. Helen Beebe of Birmingham University, who shares

Hume skepticism about necessity, talks to philosophy bites about what sense can be made of

the ideas of laws of nature.

Helen Beebe, welcome to philosophy Bites.

Thank you for having me.

The topic we're going to focus on today is laws of nature. What is the law of nature? Well that's the big question really. If you think

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