Muller, F.A. (2011) How to Defeat W\"{u}thrich’s Abysmal Embarrassment Argument against Space-Time Structuralism. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In his 2009 PSA Recent Ph.D. Award winning contribution to the bi-annual PSA Conference at Pittsburgh in 2008, C. Wu ̈thrich mounted an argument against struc- turalism about space-time in the context of the General Theory of Relativity (GTR), to the effect that structuralists cannot discern space-time points. An “abysmal embarrass- ment” for the structuralist, Wu ̈thrich judged. Wu ̈thrich’s characterisation of space-time structuralism is however incorrect. We demonstrate how, on the basis of a correct char- acterisation of space-time structuralism, it is possible to discern space-time points in the GTR-structures under consideration. Thus Wu ̈thrich’s argument crumbles.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Muller, F.A. f.a.muller@uu.nl
Additional Information:	To appear in PSA 2010 Proceedings in *Philosophy of Science*
Keywords:	space and time, general theory of relativity, philosophy of physics, structuralism
Subjects:	General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User:	F.A. Muller
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2011 12:12
Last Modified:	05 Oct 2011 12:12
Item ID:	8825
Subjects:	General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date:	October 2011
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8825

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