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Scientific article
Open access
English

Priority Monism Beyond Spacetime

ContributorsLe Bihan, Baptisteorcid
Published inMetaphysica, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 95-111
Publication date2018
Abstract

I will defend two claims. First, Schaffer's priority monism is in tension with many research programs in quantum gravity. Second, priority monism can be modified into a view more amenable to this physics. The first claim is grounded in the fact that promising approaches to quantum gravity such as loop quantum gravity or string theory deny the fundamental reality of spacetime. Since fundamental spacetime plays an important role in Schaffer's priority monism by being identified with the fundamental structure, namely the cosmos, the disappearance of spacetime in these views might undermine classical priority monism. My second claim is that priority monism can avoid this issue with two moves: first, in dropping one of its core assumption, namely that the fundamental structure is spatio-temporal, second, by identifying the connection between the non-spatio-temporal structure and the derivative spatio-temporal structure with mereological composition.

Keywords
  • Priority monism
  • Quantum gravity
  • Mereology
  • Spacetime
  • Fundamentality
Citation (ISO format)
LE BIHAN, Baptiste. Priority Monism Beyond Spacetime. In: Metaphysica, 2018, vol. 19, n° 1, p. 95–111. doi: 10.1515/mp-2018-0005
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Article (Accepted version)
accessLevelPublic
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ISSN of the journal1874-6373
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Creation10.11.2018 12:22:00
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