The physics and metaphysics of primitive stuff
History and Philosophy of Physics
2014-12-01 v1
Abstract
The paper 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.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1411.7545,
title = {The physics and metaphysics of primitive stuff},
author = {Michael Esfeld and Dustin Lazarovici and Vincent Lam and Mario Hubert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.7545},
year = {2014}
}