English

A partial defense of algebraic relationalism

History and Philosophy of Physics 2023-12-12 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Rings and Algebras Quantum Physics

Abstract

I defend algebraicism, according to which physical fields can be understood in terms of their structural relations without reference to a spacetime manifold, as a genuine relationalist view against the conventional wisdom that it is equivalent to substantivalism, according to which spacetime exists fundamentally. I criticize the standard version of algebraicism that is considered equivalent to substantivalism. Furthermore, I present alternative examples of algebraicism that better implement relationalism with their conceptual advantages over substantivalism or its standard algebraic counterpart.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.03622,
  title  = {A partial defense of algebraic relationalism},
  author = {Lu Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.03622},
  year   = {2023}
}