Analysis 64 (3):206-214 (
2004)
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Abstract
My aim is to argue for the incompatibility of one of the central principles
of physics, namely the principle of least action (PLA), with the increasingly
popular view that the world is, ultimately, merely something like a con-
glomerate of objects and irreducible dispositions. First, I argue that the
essentialist implications many suppose this view has are not compatible
with the PLA. Second, I argue that, irrespective of whether this view has
any essentialist implications, it is not compatible with the kind of explanation that the PLA affords