Typicality and Minutis Rectis Laws: From Physics to Sociology
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Typicality and Minutis Rectis Laws: From Physics to Sociology Gerhard Wagner1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper contributes to the clarification of the concept of “typicality” discussed in con‑ temporary philosophy of physics by conceiving the nomological status of a typical behav‑ iour such as that expressed in the Second Law of Thermodynamics as a “minutis rectis law”. A brief sketch of the discovery of “typicality” shows that there were ideas of typical behaviour not only in physics but also in sociology. On this basis and in analogy to the Sec‑ ond Law of Thermodynamics, it is shown that the nomological status of sociological laws such as Gresham’s Law can also be conceived as “minutis rectis laws”. Keywords Ludwig Boltzmann · Ceteris paribus laws · Minutis rectis laws · Physics · Second Law of Thermodynamics · Sociology · Typicality · Max Weber
1 Introduction In the current literature on philosophy of physics, the term “typicality” refers to behav‑ iour that very often occurs in a certain way, although it could also occur differently. For example, it is typical that gas molecules in a closed container distribute themselves evenly throughout the space, although it would be possible for them to condense in one place. This behaviour is expressed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics. However, “typicality” is not said to be limited to behaviour of interest only to physics: “Many important phenomena, in physics and beyond, while they cannot be shown to hold without exception, can be shown to hold with very rare exception, suitably understood. Such phenomena are said to hold typically” (Goldstein 2012, 59–60). For example, it also seems typical that in capitalist states and in view of certain fiscal policy measures bad money ousts better money. This behaviour is expressed by Gresham’s Law.
* Gerhard Wagner [email protected]‑frankfurt.de 1
Institut für Soziologie, Goethe Universität, Theodor W. Adorno Platz 6, 60623 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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For Max Weber, “Gresham’s Law” was the paradigm case of a sociological law (Weber 2002a, 5 and 9; 2004, 318 and 324; 2009, 617 and 626).1 In his “Basic Sociological Con‑ cepts”, he defined sociology as a science which seeks “general rules in events”, i.e. “typical [chances]”2 “that under [certain] circumstances we might expect a […] [course] of social action which can […] be understood in terms of the typical motives and typical intentions of the [actors]” (Weber 2002a, 9; 2004, 324–325). The fact that he associated the terms “law” and “rule” with the word “typical” indicates that he had an idea of “typicality”. Although there is still disagreement in philosophy of physics about the nature of “typi‑ cality”, it seems worthwhile to transpose the basic idea into sociology in order to gain a better understanding of sociological laws. This transposition is possible only by “analogy” (Bartha 2019), which is justified by the very fact that the concept of “typicality” itself was created by analogical reasoning. In the following, I will f
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