How to Defeat Wüthrich’s Abysmal Embarrassment Argument against Space-Time Structuralism

Philosophy of Science 78 (5):1046-1057 (2011)
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Abstract

In his 2009 PSA Recent Ph.D. Award winning contribution to the bi-annual PSA Conference at Pittsburgh in 2008, C. Wu ̈thrich mounted an argument against struc- turalism about space-time in the context of the General Theory of Relativity, to the effect that structuralists cannot discern space-time points. An “abysmal embarrass- ment” for the structuralist, Wu ̈thrich judged. Wu ̈thrich’s characterisation of space-time structuralism is however incorrect. We demonstrate how, on the basis of a correct char- acterisation of space-time structuralism, it is possible to discern space-time points in the GTR-structures under consideration. Thus Wu ̈thrich’s argument crumbles

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F. A. Muller
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Citations of this work

The Rise of Relationals.F. A. Muller - 2015 - Mind 124 (493):201-237.
From ontic structural realism to metaphysical coherentism.Matteo Morganti - 2018 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1):1-20.
No Categorial Support for Radical Ontic Structural Realism.Vincent Lam & Christian Wüthrich - 2015 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (3):605-634.

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References found in this work

Discerning Fermions.Simon Saunders & F. A. Muller - 2008 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (3):499 - 548.
Physics and Leibniz's principles.Simon Saunders - 2003 - In Katherine Brading & Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections. Cambridge University Press. pp. 289--307.

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