Are physical laws invented or discovered?

AProudLefty

AProudLefty

Black Kitty Ain't Happy
Do the physical laws of nature exist before they're discovered? Brian Greene shares his view.


In my opinion it is discoverable. Or else how do we exist?
 
The only drawback here is that, unlike mathematical theorems, physical laws tend to be provisional.

So they they actually reflect reality? Or are they a human construct?

Newtonian mechanics had to be upgraded by Einstein's field equations.

Someday, electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force need to be upgraded to a grand unified theory.

Einstein's general relativity breaks down as one approaches the big bang.

What we think of as physical laws today, might have to be modified or discarded in the future.
 
Newton's law of gravitation, general relativity, and the standard model of particle physics may be subject to modification in the future.

But as I thought about this, the physical constants of the universe are probably real tangible elements of reality, which humans did not invent as part of a constructed mathematical language.

The gravitational constant and Planck's constant were discovered, not invented. They appear to be a tangible element of reality underlying the universe, and are only known by experimental measurement; they cannot be derived from first principles.
 
AProudLefty said:
How so? Are physical and math laws invented or discovered?
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First the "laws" of physics do exist and existed before man so man could not have created them. It might be able to argue that man "created" them by giving them names but it's a weak argument. Gravity exist with it without out naming it.

As to math I think it's just more of the same but math helps us work WITH the laws of physics.
 
Yakuda said:
First the "laws" of physics do exist and existed before man so man could not have created them. It might be able to argue that man "created" them by giving them names but it's a weak argument. Gravity exist with it without out naming it.

As to math I think it's just more of the same but math helps us work WITH the laws of physics.
Click to expand...

That is the point. They are discoverable.
 
Math demonstrated in nature. Humans didn't invent it.

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