Norman Swartz (born 1939) is an American philosopher and professor emeritus (retired 1998) of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. He is the author or co-author of multiple books and multiple articles on the ''

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia with around 900 articles about philosophy, philosophers, and related topics. The IEP publishes only peer review, peer-reviewed and blind-refereed original p ...

''. He attended Burnaby North Secondary School. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in physics from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1961, an

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in history and

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in 1965 and a Ph.D. in history of philosophy of science in 1971 also from Indiana University. He uses the term

physical law Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) ...

to mean the laws of nature as they truly are and not as they are inferred and described in the practice of science.
The Concept of Physical Law
', Norman Swartz, (New York: Cambridge University Press), 1985. 2nd edition, available online.

Publications

Following is an incomplete list of publications.

Books

*Possible Worlds: An Introduction to Logic and Its Philosophy. Co-authored with Raymond Bradley. (Indianapolis: Hackett), 1979. *The Concept of Physical Law. (New York: Cambridge University Press), 1985. *Beyond Experience: Metaphysical Theories and Philosophical Constraints. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 1991.

Articles on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Laws of NatureTruthForeknowledge and Free Will

References

External links

A search for "Norman Swartz" on Philpapers.org.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swartz, Norman 1939 births Living people 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Academic staff of Simon Fraser University Harvard College alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni