Scientific laws without a lawmaker

Turner asked:

Why do some people believe that there are scientific laws without a law maker?

Answer by Shaun Williamson

The word ‘law’ has different uses. In science it is used to mean a rule that material objects conform to. This is completely different from the idea of a law in a legal system. So for example one of Newton’s laws is ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ Nobody gave Newton this law (there was no law maker), Newton discovered it himself.

For legal laws you need a legal system and a lawgiver or lawgivers. You shouldn’t found a philosophy or a theology on simple confusions about the different uses of words. So we don’t believe that there are scientific laws, we go out and discover which scientific laws are true and which ones are false, we don’t get these laws from any lawmaker. The scientific use of the word ‘law’ isn’t a cheap and easy route to a proof of the existence of God and no amount of wordplay will make it into a proof of the existence of God.

 

One thought on “Scientific laws without a lawmaker

  1. You are operating under tge presumption that this criticism is one of wordplay and that is an utter falsehood. Let me phrase it a little differently: why does an object in motion remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force? We have proof that it does, yes. But that certainly does not close the topic of WHY that very physical law is in existence in our universe. Why do you suppose it is? “Because it just is” is an answer parents give to their kids when it’s too inconvenient or uncomfortable to answer.

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