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  1.  47
    The Hole Argument Against Everything.Joshua Norton - 2020 - Foundations of Physics 50 (4):360-378.
    The Hole Argument was originally formulated by Einstein and it haunted him as he struggled to understand the meaning of spacetime coordinates in the context of the diffeomorphism invariance of general relativity. This argument has since been put to philosophical use by Earman and Norton to argue against a substantival conception of spacetime. In the present work I demonstrate how Earman and Norton’s Hole Argument can be extended to exclude everything and not merely substantival manifolds. These casualties of the hole (...)
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  2.  33
    (1 other version)Incubating a future metaphysics: quantum gravity.Joshua Norton - 2020 - Synthese 197 (5):1961-1982.
    In this paper, I will argue that metaphysicians ought to utilize quantum theories of gravity as incubators for a future metaphysics. I will argue why this ought to be done and will present cases studies from the history of science where physical theories have challenged both the dogmatic and speculative metaphysician. I provide two theories of QG and demonstrate the challenge they pose to certain aspects of our current metaphysics; in particular, how they challenge our understanding of the abstract–concrete distinction. (...)
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  3.  68
    Weak Discernibility and Relations between Quanta.Joshua Norton - 2015 - Philosophy of Science 82 (5):1188-1199.
    Some authors have attempted to defend Leibniz’s Identity of Indiscernibles through weak discernibility. The idea is that if there is a symmetric, nonreflexive physical relation that holds between two particles, then those particles cannot be identical. In this article I focus only on Muller and Saunders’s account and argue that the means by which they achieve weak discernibility is not through a quantum mechanical observable but an alternate mathematical construction that is both unorthodox and incomplete.
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  4.  43
    Suppressing spacetime emergence.Joshua Norton - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C):50-59.
  5.  37
    Loop quantum ontology: Spacetime and spin-networks.Joshua Norton - 2020 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 71:14-25.
  6.  19
    The Never-Ending Dance of Philosophy and Physics.Nick Huggett & Joshua Norton - unknown
    A popular-level discussion of the mutual significance of physics and philosophy over the ages.
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  7. Loop quantum ontology: spin-networks and spacetime.Joshua Norton - unknown
    The ontological issues at stake given the theory of loop quantum gravity include the status of spacetime, the nature and reality of spin-networks, the relationship of classical spacetime to issues of causation and the status of the abstract-concrete distinction. I this paper I argue that, while spacetime seems to disappear, the spirit of substantival spacetime lives on under certain interpretations of the theory. Moreover, in order for there to be physical spin-networks, and not merely mathematical artifacts, I argue that we (...)
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  8.  39
    Empirically Incoherent Quantum Gravity.Joshua Norton - 2021 - Theoria 87 (6):1349-1379.
    It is argued that certain quantum theories of gravity — string theory, loop quantum gravity, non-commutative field theory — do not include spacetime as part of their fundamental ontology. There is a concern in the literature that theories of this kind are physically opaque and empirically incoherent. In this paper, I clarify and amend Huggett and Wüthrich’s argument against these claims. Whereas the content of this paper centres on the disappearance and re-emergence of spacetime in quantum gravity, much of the (...)
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  9.  19
    Introduction.Joshua Norton - 2022 - Theoria 88 (4):727-732.
    Theoria, Volume 88, Issue 4, Page 727-732, August 2022.
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  10.  30
    The Ashgate Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Physics. Edited by Dean Rickles. [REVIEW]Joshua Norton - 2011 - Heythrop Journal 52 (2):304-305.
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