Ceteris Paribus (cp-)laws may be said to hold only “other things equal,” signaling that their truth is compatible with a range of exceptions. Several theorists have suggested that because of this feature, these generalizations are semantically defective. Against these concerns, I argue that cp-laws are often stated using a special kind of construction found in natural language, generics, which,...

In this paper I will defend the thesis that natural laws are metaphysically necessary, i.e. obtain in every possible world. Metaphysical necessity and possibility are the unrestricted modalities in the semantical interpretation of the modal logic system S5, which I adopt in this paper. I shall defend the following definition of a law of nature: (D 1) L is a natural law if and only if (i) L obta...

We review the Lagrangian formulation of (generalised) Noether symmetries in the framework of Calculus of Variations in Jet Bundles, with a special attention to so-called “Natural Theories” and “Gauge-Natural Theories” that include all relevant Field Theories and physical applications (from Mechanics to General Relativity, to Gauge Theories, Supersymmetric Theories, Spinors, etc.). It is discuss...