Infinitesimal Gunk

Journal of Philosophical Logic 49 (5):981-1004 (2020)
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Abstract

In this paper, I advance an original view of the structure of space called Infinitesimal Gunk. This view says that every region of space can be further divided and some regions have infinitesimal size, where infinitesimals are understood in the framework of Robinson’s nonstandard analysis. This view, I argue, provides a novel reply to the inconsistency arguments proposed by Arntzenius and Russell, which have troubled a more familiar gunky approach. Moreover, it has important advantages over the alternative views these authors suggested. Unlike Arntzenius’s proposal, it does not introduce regions with no interior. It also has a much richer measure theory than Russell’s proposal and does not retreat to mere finite additivity.

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Lu Chen
Koc University

Citations of this work

Sorites On What Matters.Theron Pummer - 2022 - In Jeff McMahan, Timothy Campbell, Ketan Ramakrishnan & Jimmy Goodrich (eds.), Ethics and Existence: The Legacy of Derek Parfit. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 498–523.
Smooth Infinitesimals in the Metaphysical Foundation of Spacetime Theories.Lu Chen - 2022 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 51 (4):857-877.

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References found in this work

Non-standard Analysis.Gert Heinz Müller - 2016 - Princeton University Press.
Mereology.Achille C. Varzi - 2016 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
What price spacetime substantivalism? The hole story.John Earman & John Norton - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (4):515-525.

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