All Other Things Being Equal

See: Latin, Ablative Absolute, Ontic, Epistemic, Inductive Logic, Epidemiologist, Independent Variable, Dependent Variables, Scientific Modeling, Fundamental Interactions, Fundamental Science, Special Science.

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References

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ceteris_paribus Retrieved:2014-3-22.
  • … is a Latin phrase meaning "with other things the same" or "all other things being equal or held constant." As an ablative absolute, it is commonly posed to mean "all other things being equal." A prediction or a statement about causal, empirical, or logical relation between two states of affairs is ceteris paribus via acknowledgement that the prediction can fail or the relation can be abolished by intervening factors.

    A ceteris paribus assumption is often key to scientific inquiry, as scientists seek to screen out factors that perturb a relation of interest. Thus, epidemiologists seek to control independent variables as factors that may influence dependent variables — the outcomes or effects of interest. Likewise, in scientific modeling, simplifying assumptions permit illustration or elucidation of concepts thought relevant within the sphere of inquiry.

    Whereas fundamental physics tends to state universal laws, other sciences, such as biology, psychology, and economics, tend to state laws that hold true in "normal conditions" but have exceptions, ceteris paribus laws (cp laws). The status of universal laws is a criterion distinguishing fundamental physics as fundamental science, whereas the status of ceteris paribus laws distinguishes most other sciences as special sciences, whose laws hold in special cases.

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