Vassallo, Antonio and Naranjo, Pedro and Koslowski, Tim (2022) A Proposal for a Metaphysics of Self-Subsisting Structures. I. Classical Physics. Synthese, 200. ISSN 1573-0964
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Abstract
We present a new metaphysical framework for physics that is conceptually clear, ontologically parsimonious, and empirically adequate. This framework relies on the notion of self-subsisting structure, that is, a set of fundamental physical elements whose individuation and behavior are described in purely relational terms, without any need for a background spacetime. Although the specification of the fundamental elements of the ontology depends on the particular physical domain considered---and is thus susceptible to scientific progress---, the empirically successful structural features of the framework are preserved through theory change. The kinematics and dynamics of these self-subsisting structures are technically implemented using the theoretical framework of Pure Shape Dynamics, which provides a completely relational physical description of a system in terms of the intrinsic geometry of a suitably defined space called shape space.
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Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||||||||
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Keywords: | Self-subsisting structure; relationalism; ontic structural realism; Humeanism; pure shape dynamics; parsimony | ||||||||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Theory Change |
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Depositing User: | Antonio Vassallo | ||||||||||||
Date Deposited: | 04 Sep 2022 17:40 | ||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2022 17:40 | ||||||||||||
Item ID: | 21126 | ||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Synthese | ||||||||||||
Publisher: | Springer (Springer Science+Business Media B.V.) | ||||||||||||
Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-0... | ||||||||||||
DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1007/s11229-022-03865-x | ||||||||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Theory Change |
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Date: | 3 September 2022 | ||||||||||||
Volume: | 200 | ||||||||||||
ISSN: | 1573-0964 | ||||||||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21126 |
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