serval:BIB_6F7362001A3A
The Physics and Metaphysics of Primitive Stuff
10.1093/bjps/axv026
Esfeld
Michael
author
Lazarovici
Dustin
author
Lam
Vincent
author
Hubert
Mario
author
article
2017
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
0007-0882
1464-3537
journal
68
1
133-161
The article sets out a primitive ontology of the natural world in terms of primitive stuff—that is, stuff that has as such no physical properties at all—but that is not a bare substratum either, being individuated by metrical relations. We focus on quantum physics and employ identity-based Bohmian mechanics to illustrate this view, but point out that it applies all over physics. Properties then enter into the picture exclusively through the role that they play for the dynamics of the primitive stuff. We show that such properties can be local (classical mechanics), as well as holistic (quantum mechanics), and discuss two metaphysical options to conceive them, namely, Humeanism and modal realism in the guise of dispositionalism.
primitive ontology
primitive stuff
ontic structural realism
identical particles
Bohmian mechanics
Humeanism
modal realism
dispositionalism
eng
60_published
peer-reviewed
University of Lausanne
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