Abstract

This is the first appearance in English translation (and the first appearance anywhere since a now-hard-to-find 1939 Turkish publication) of Reichenbach’s popular lecture “The Problem of Laws of Nature.” In his lecture, Reichenbach deftly carries his audience through a vast array of interrelated topics concerning probability, natural law, determinism, statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, fate, explanation, the justification of induction, and the scientist as wagerer. A brief commentary situating the lecture in a broader historical and philosophical context is provided. The translation aims to convey Reichenbach’s own voice, which is by turns serious, playful, ironic, admonitory and inspirational.