Composing Spacetime

Journal of Philosophy 119 (1):33-54 (2022)
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Abstract

According to a number of approaches in theoretical physics, spacetime does not exist fundamentally. Rather, spacetime exists by depending on another, more fundamental, non-spatiotemporal structure. A prevalent opinion in the literature is that this dependence should not be analyzed in terms of composition. We should not say, that is, that spacetime depends on an ontology of non-spatiotemporal entities in virtue of having them as parts. But is that really right? On the contrary, we argue that a mereological approach to dependent spacetime is not only viable, but promises to enhance our understanding of the physical situation.

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Author Profiles

Sam Baron
University of Melbourne
Baptiste Le Bihan
University of Geneva

Citations of this work

Location and Mereology.Cody Gilmore - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Relational Passage of Time.Matias Slavov - 2022 - New York: Routledge.
The many problems of spacetime emergence in quantum gravity.Rasmus Jaksland & Kian Salimkhani - forthcoming - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

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