dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaAgainst Pointillisme about Geometry
| Authors | Jeremy Butterfield |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0512063 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512063 |
| Journal | Forthcoming in Proceedings of the 28th Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium, 2006, ed. F. Stadler and M. Stoeltzner |
Abstract
This paper forms part of a wider campaign: to deny pointillisme. That is the doctrine that a physical theory's fundamental quantities are defined at points of space or of spacetime, and represent intrinsic properties of such points or point-sized objects located there; so that properties of spatial or spatiotemporal regions and their material contents are determined by the point-by-point facts. More specifically, this paper argues against pointillisme about the structure of space and-or spacetime itself, especially a paper by Bricker (1993). A companion paper argues against pointillisme in mechanics, especially about velocity; it focusses on Tooley, Robinson and Lewis. To avoid technicalities, I conduct the argument almost entirely in the context of ``Newtonian'' ideas about space and time. But both the debate and my arguments carry over to relativistic, and even quantum, physics.
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"abstract": "This paper forms part of a wider campaign: to deny pointillisme. That is the\ndoctrine that a physical theory\u0027s fundamental quantities are defined at points\nof space or of spacetime, and represent intrinsic properties of such points or\npoint-sized objects located there; so that properties of spatial or\nspatiotemporal regions and their material contents are determined by the\npoint-by-point facts.\n More specifically, this paper argues against pointillisme about the structure\nof space and-or spacetime itself, especially a paper by Bricker (1993). A\ncompanion paper argues against pointillisme in mechanics, especially about\nvelocity; it focusses on Tooley, Robinson and Lewis.\n To avoid technicalities, I conduct the argument almost entirely in the\ncontext of ``Newtonian\u0027\u0027 ideas about space and time. But both the debate and my\narguments carry over to relativistic, and even quantum, physics.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0512063",
"authors": [
"Jeremy Butterfield"
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"journal_ref": "Forthcoming in Proceedings of the 28th Ludwig Wittgenstein\n Symposium, 2006, ed. F. Stadler and M. Stoeltzner",
"title": "Against Pointillisme about Geometry",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512063"
},
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