Abstract

Esfeld has proposed a minimalist ontology of nature called ‘super-Humeanism’ that purports to accommodate quantum phenomena and avoid standard objections to neo-Humean metaphysics. I argue that Esfeld’s sparse ontology has counterintuitive consequences and generates two self-undermining dilemmas concerning the nature of time and space. Contrary to Esfeld, I deny that super-Humeanism supports an ontology of microscopic particles that follow continuous trajectories through space. 1Introduction 2Matter without Physical Properties 2.1The primitive ontology approach 2.2Super-Humean matter points 3Objections to Super-Humeanism 3.1Symmetric worlds 3.2Temporal dilemma 3.3Persistence problem 4Conclusion.