The metaphor is that natural phenomena are "lawgoverned".... like people in societies with states are "governed".
Charles
^^^^
Laws of science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_science
The laws of science are various established scientific laws, or physical laws as they are sometimes called, that are considered universal and invariable facts of the physical world.[dubious – discuss] Laws of science may, however, be disproved if new facts or evidence contradicts them. A "law" differs from hypotheses, theories, postulates, principles, etc., in that a law is an analytic statement, usually with an empirically determined constant. A theory may contain a set of laws, or a theory may be implied from an empirically determined law.
Contents [hide] 1 Overview 2 Conservation laws 3 Gas laws 4 Einstein's laws 5 Newton's laws 6 Chemical laws 7 Electromagnetic laws 8 Thermodynamic laws 9 Quantum laws 10 Other laws 11 See also 12 Notes
Conservative estimates indicate that there are 18 basic physical laws in the universe: [1]
Fluid mechanics
Archimedes’ principle Force, mass, and inertia
Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion Newton’s three laws of motion Euler's laws of rigid body motion Newton’s law of universal gravitation
Heat, energy, and temperature
Newton’s law of cooling Boyle’s law Law of conservation of energy Joule’s first and second law The four laws of thermodynamics
Quantum mechanics
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
Others, such as Roger Penrose in his 2004 book The Road to Reality (subtitled "A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe"), argue that there are a large number of established laws of science. Some laws, such as Descartes’ first law of nature, have become obsolete.[citation needed] A rough outline of the basic laws in science is as follows
On 3/1/10, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Chris Doss
> Law is a science?
>
> ^^^^
> CB: Interesting question Chris ,to me anyway. Seems to me that parts
> of it are or maybe science takes parts of the law as a model. Cases
> are decided based on none other than evidence, material evidence. So,
> it's a materialist in this way. Arguments are made applying the law
> or theory to certain facts to prove propositions regarding social
> matters, human society.
>