Related papers: A partial defense of algebraic relationalism
Popular wisdom amongst theoretical physicists says that the continuum structure of spacetime is probably not elementary, but rather emergent. While many arguments to support that view arise from speculative ideas, the argument can also be…
What ontology does realism about the quantum state suggest? The main extant view in contemporary philosophy of physics is wave-function realism. We elaborate the sense in which wave-function realism does provide an ontological picture; and…
I propose that Physics should be formulated using minimal mathematical structure, beginning with its foundational arena: spacetime. This paper opens with a concise overview of several research directions explored in previous work. Among…
This paper introduces context algebras and demonstrates their application to combining logical and vector-based representations of meaning. Other approaches to this problem attempt to reproduce aspects of logical semantics within new…
In the present study we attempt to incorporate the philosophical dialogue about physical reality into the instructional process of quantum mechanics. Taking into account that both scientific realism and constructivism represent, on the…
We consider the duality between General Relativity and the theory of Einstein algebras, in the extended setting where one permits non-Hausdorff manifolds. We show that the duality breaks down, and then go on to discuss a sense in which…
Contrary to our immediate and vivid sensation of past, present, and future as continually shifting non-relational modalities, time remains as tenseless and relational as space in all of the established theories of fundamental physics. Here…
The algebras of non-relativistic and of classical mechanics are unstable algebraic structures. Their deformation towards stable structures leads, respectively, to relativity and to quantum mechanics. Likewise, the combined relativistic…
Factorization algebras are local-to-global objects living on manifolds, and they arise naturally in mathematics and physics. Their local structure encompasses examples like associative algebras and vertex algebras; in these examples, their…
Starting from a Unified Field Theory (UFT) proposed previously by the author, the possible fermionic representations arising from the same spacetime are considered from the algebraic and geometrical viewpoint. We specifically demonstrate in…
Theories of quantum gravity generically presuppose or predict that the reality underlying relativistic spacetimes they are describing is significantly non-spatiotemporal. On pain of empirical incoherence, approaches to quantum gravity must…
We set out a fundamental ontology of atomism in terms of matter points. While being most parsimonious, this ontology is able to match both classical and quantum mechanics, and it remains a viable option for any future theory of cosmology…
This paper challenges some of the common assumptions underlying the mathematics used to describe the physical world. We start by reviewing many of the assumptions underlying the concepts of real, physical, rigid bodies and the translational…
Because of the non-locality of quantum entanglement, realist approaches to completing quantum mechanics have implications for our conception of space. Quantum gravity also is expected to predict phenomena in which the locality of classical…
Historically, there have been many attempts to produce an appropriate mathematical formalism for modeling the nature of physical space, such as Euclid's geometry, Descartes' system of Cartesian coordinates, the Argand plane, Hamilton's…
Natural philosophy integrates scientific observation with abstract frameworks, often using a mathematical Ansatz to hypothesise about physical phenomena. Exploring the possibility of other universes, however, challenges assumptions that…
In the context of theories of the connection between mind and brain, physicalism is the demand that all is basically purely physical. But the concept of "physical" embodied in this demand is characterized essentially by the properties of…
We reconsider the consequences of the observed violations of Bell's inequalities. Two common responses to these violations are: (i) the rejection of realism and the retention of locality, and (ii) the rejection of locality and the retention…
An axiomatization of the so-called Teleparallel Equivalent to General Relativity is presented. A set of formal and semantic postulates are elaborated from where the physical meaning of various key concepts of the theory are clarified. These…
The ontology proposed in this paper is aimed at demonstrating that it is possible to understand the counter-intuitive predictions of quantum mechanics while still retaining much of the framework underlying classical physics, the implication…