Reichenbach's theory of nomological statements

Abstract

My primary aim in this paper is to discuss and evaluate Reichenbach’s theory of nomological statements. The importance of this topic is evident from the fact that Reichenbach offers the concept of a synthetic nomological statement as an explication for the recalcitrant notion of a law of nature. An early version of this theory was presented in the last chapter of his Elements of Symbolic Logic (1947), but I shall here deal with the considerably revised version contained in his Nomological Statements and Admissible Operations (1954). All parenthetical page citations in the sequel (unless otherwise identified) will refer to this book.