PhilSci Archive

On Representational Redundancy, Surplus Structure, and the Hole Argument

Bradley, Clara and Weatherall, James Owen (2019) On Representational Redundancy, Surplus Structure, and the Hole Argument. [Preprint]

WarningThere is a more recent version of this item available.
[img] Text
main.pdf - Submitted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (327kB)

Abstract

We address a recent proposal concerning 'surplus structure' due to Nguyen et al. ['Why Surplus Structure is Not Superfluous.' Br. J. Phi. Sci. Forthcoming.] We argue that the sense of 'surplus structure' captured by their formal criterion is importantly different from---and in a sense, opposite to---another sense of 'surplus structure' used by philosophers. We argue that minimizing structure in one sense is generally incompatible with minimizing structure in the other sense. We then show how these distinctions bear on Nguyen et al.'s arguments about Yang-Mills theory and on the hole argument.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Bradley, Claraclarajbradley@gmail.com
Weatherall, James Owenweatherj@uci.edu
Keywords: hole argument, surplus structure, structure, Yang-Mills theory, representational redundancy
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
Specific Sciences > Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Structure of Theories
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User: James Owen Weatherall
Date Deposited: 10 Apr 2019 04:08
Last Modified: 10 Apr 2019 04:08
Item ID: 15891
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
Specific Sciences > Physics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
General Issues > Structure of Theories
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date: 2019
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15891

Available Versions of this Item

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item