Dimensions of scientific law

Biological knowledge does not fit the image of science that philosophers ha ve developed. Many argue that biology has no laws. Here I criticize standar d normative accounts of law and defend an alternative, pragmatic approach. I argue that a multidimensional conceptual framework should replace the sta ndard dichotomous law/accident distinction in order to display important di fferences in the kinds of causal structure found in nature and the correspo nding scientific representations of those structures. To this end I explore the dimensions of stability, strength, and degree of abstraction that char acterize the variety of scientific knowledge claims found in biology and ot her sciences.