however, all the physical theories I know of, have a very clear and known division between laws and initial conditions.
Physics doesn’t work on Occam’s razor alone. You need an IC/law division to be able to figure out counterfactuals, but equally you can implement counterfactuals in the form of experiment, and use them to figure out the IC/law split.
I think that’s a bit controversial. Experiments tell us what happens in one timeline, the actual one… just like everything else we see and do. They don’t tell us what would have happened if such-and-such had occurred, because such-and-such didn’t in fact occur.
After the experiment has been performed, the counterfactual is now actual, but it was a counterfactual beforehand. Even if you take the view that everything is determined, experiments are still exploring logical counterfactuals. On the other hand, if you assume holism, then you can’t explore counterfactuals with experiments because you can’t construct a complete state of the universe.
I’m pretty sure that’s not how counterfactuals are normally thought to work. “Counterfactual” means contrary-to-the-facts. Something that is true is not contrary to the facts.
Argument: If you are right, then why is this only true for experiments? Isn’t it equally true for anything that happens—before it happens, it’s just a counterfactual, and then after it happens, it’s actual?
Physics doesn’t work on Occam’s razor alone. You need an IC/law division to be able to figure out counterfactuals, but equally you can implement counterfactuals in the form of experiment, and use them to figure out the IC/law split.
How does that alternate method work? Implementing counterfactuals in the form of an experiment?
That would.. just performing an experiment. All experiments answer a “what if” question.
I think that’s a bit controversial. Experiments tell us what happens in one timeline, the actual one… just like everything else we see and do. They don’t tell us what would have happened if such-and-such had occurred, because such-and-such didn’t in fact occur.
After the experiment has been performed, the counterfactual is now actual, but it was a counterfactual beforehand. Even if you take the view that everything is determined, experiments are still exploring logical counterfactuals. On the other hand, if you assume holism, then you can’t explore counterfactuals with experiments because you can’t construct a complete state of the universe.
I’m pretty sure that’s not how counterfactuals are normally thought to work. “Counterfactual” means contrary-to-the-facts. Something that is true is not contrary to the facts.
Argument: If you are right, then why is this only true for experiments? Isn’t it equally true for anything that happens—before it happens, it’s just a counterfactual, and then after it happens, it’s actual?