Esfeld, Michael (2025) Primitive ontology, structural realism and the laws of nature. [Preprint]
![[img]](https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
PO-Laws-ProjectNomos-2025.pdf Download (326kB) |
Abstract
This essay starts from a primitive ontology that replaces intrinsic properties with structures in the sense of relations with distance being the natural, world-making relation that individuates basic physical objects such as point particles. I set out how this approach leads to a view of laws of nature being grounded in a primitive ontology that implements nomological constraints. The essay explains how this stance is distinct from both standard Humeanism (Lewis’s Humean supervenience) and dispositionalism.
| Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
| Social Networking: |
| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: |
|
||||||
| Keywords: | dispositions, distance relations, Humean mosaic, intrinsic properties, Leibnizian relationalism, location, ontic structural realism, primitive ontology, Super-Humeanism, supervenience | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Laws of Nature |
||||||
| Depositing User: | Michael Esfeld | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 06 Jan 2026 19:16 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Jan 2026 19:16 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 27732 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > Laws of Nature |
||||||
| Date: | 2025 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27732 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}