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Accepted manuscript

The many laws of the periodic table

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2025

Vanessa A. Seifert*
Affiliation:
University of Athens, Greece
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Abstract

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There are many- not just one- periodic laws in chemistry. These laws correspond to non-accidental regularity relations about physical and chemical properties of (sets of) chemical elements. I support this by showing how these regularity relations can be understood from the perspective of a philosophical analysis of laws. Specifically, I show that these relations instantiate standard features associated with laws; they can be spelled out in terms of two standard accounts of laws; and, they can coherently figure in debates about the reality of laws as plausible candidates of ceteris paribus laws.

Information

Type
Contributed Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Philosophy of Science Association