Against Fields

Abstract

Using the example of classical electrodynamics, I argue that the concept of fields as mediators of particle interactions is fundamentally flawed and reflects a misguided attempt to retrieve Newtonian concepts in relativistic theories. This leads to various physical and metaphysical problems that are discussed in detail. In particular, I emphasize that physics has not found a satisfying solution to the self-interaction problem in the context of the classical field theory. To demonstrate the superiority of a pure particle ontology, I defend the direct interaction theory of Wheeler and Feynman against recent criticism and argue that it provides the most cogent formulation of classical electrodynamics.

References in corpus (2)

• On the initial value formulation of classical electrodynamics
• On Irreversibility and Radiation in Classical Electrodynamics of Point Particles

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Governing Without A Fundamental Direction of Time: Minimal Primitivism about Laws of Nature
• The Fundamentality of Fields
• Observables and unobservables in quantum mechanics: How the no-hidden-variables theorems support the Bohmian particle ontology
• Eliminating Electron Self-Repulsion
• Maxwell-Lorentz without self interactions: Conservation of energy and momentum
• The Mass of the Gravitational Field
• Particles, Fields, and the Measurement of Electron Spin
• Putting Positrons into Classical Dirac Field Theory
• When Fields Are Not Degrees of Freedom
• Time reversal invariance and ontology
• The Point of Primitive Ontology
• The Disappearance and Reappearance of Potential Energy in Classical and Quantum Electrodynamics
• Absorbing the Arrow of Electromagnetic Radiation