A Proposal for a Metaphysics of Self-Subsisting Structures. I. Classical Physics

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.

arXiv comment36 pages. Published in Synthese 200, 374 (2022)

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Herglotz Action for Homogeneous Cosmology
• On the alternatives to the ideal mathematical points-like separatedness
• A proposal for a metaphysics of self-subsisting structures. II. Quantum physics
• Pure shape dynamics, self-subsisting structures, and the nature of time
• Shape space as a conceptual space
• General Relativity and Background Independence