Intrinsic local distances: a mixed solution to Weyl's tile argument.

Weyl's tile argument purports to show that there are no natural distance functions in atomistic space that approximate Euclidean geometry. I advance a response to this argument that relies on a new account of distance in atomistic space, called the mixed account, according to which local distances a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 198; no. 8; pp. 7533 - 7553
Autor principal: Chen, Lu
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Aug2021
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Weyl's tile argument purports to show that there are no natural distance functions in atomistic space that approximate Euclidean geometry. I advance a response to this argument that relies on a new account of distance in atomistic space, called the mixed account, according to which local distances are primitive and other distances are derived from them. Under this account, atomistic space can approximate Euclidean space (and continuous space in general) very well. To motivate this account as a genuine solution to Weyl's tile argument, I argue that this account is no less natural than the standard account of distance in continuous space. I also argue that the mixed account has distinctive advantages over Forrest's (Synthese 103:327–354, 1995) account in response to Weyl's tile argument, which can be considered as a restricted version of the mixed account.