Simplicity, Language-Dependency and the Best System Account of Laws

Abstract

It is often said that the best system account of laws(BSA) needs supplementing with a theory of perfectly natural properties. The ‘strength’ and ‘simplicity’ of a systemis language-relative and without a fixed vocabulary it is impossible to compare rival systems. Recently a number of philosophers have attempted to reformulate the BSA in an effort to avoid commitment to natural properties.I assess these proposals and argue that they are problematic as they stand. Nonetheless, I agree with their aim, and show that if simplicity is interpreted as ‘compression’, algorithmic information theory provides a framework for system comparison without the need for natural properties.