Healey, Richard (2010) Physical Composition. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Atomistic metaphysics motivated an explanatory strategy which science has pursued with great success since the scientific revolution. By decomposing matter into its atomic and subatomic parts physics gave us powerful explanations and accurate predictions as well as providing a unifying framework for the rest of science. The success of the decompositional strategy has encouraged a widespread conviction that the physical world forms a compositional hierarchy that physics and other sciences are progressively articulating. But this conviction does not stand up to a closer examination of how physics has treated composition, as a variety of case studies will show.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Healey, Richard
Keywords:	composition, reduction, metaphysics, physicalism, Standard Model, condensed matter
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Depositing User:	Richard Andrew Healey
Date Deposited:	09 Oct 2010 12:17
Last Modified:	23 May 2011 09:23
Item ID:	8325
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism
Date:	8 October 2010
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8325

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• Physical Composition. (deposited 09 Oct 2010 12:17) [Currently Displayed]
  • Physical Composition. (deposited 23 May 2011 09:23)

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