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Her academic career began in 1971-1973 as a faculty at the University of Maryland, followed from 1973-1991 at Standford University. From 1991-1993 she was a professor of philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics then since 1993 became the Director of LSE Centre. Since then she has been a professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of San Diego and Durham. -
Nancy argued between phenomenological and theoretical laws. Phenomenological laws apply to actually observed events, or phenomena, in specific detail to situations to which they apply. Fundamental laws play an important role in the creation of phenomenological laws, they are however not true. This is due to the abstract from all the detailed conditions that give phenomenological laws an opportunity at being true within its specific domain. -
In this radical thesis, Nancy argues how the fundamental laws of physics do not state truths about the world. This was viewed as drastic because there is a general assumption that there is an underlying physical law that ultimately describes all-natural events. Along with Ian Hacking whos a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science, a cautious realism about theoretical entities which don't depend on people's ability to formulate new laws about them. -
Nancy is a prominent contributor to this theory, in her first book "Nature's Capacities and their Measurement" she goes into detail on this theory. To understand causality in terms of law, she replaced it with the term capacities. This theory contributes to doubts as to whether laws are needed at all. Her being a committed empiricist, stated in her thesis is that science cannot be understood without assuming real capacities in the world. -
In the titled book, Nancy continues to criticize fundamentalism which is the idea that there is one unique set of laws applying to everything. This evolved her to develop a different thought, where science is not searching for laws but constructing models. This means that for models, the question of truth does not arise. -
Here is a youtube video where she discusses how you know the right answers to different types of questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZtT9J2vfps