Empirical incoherence and double functionalism.

Recent work on quantum gravity (QG) suggests that neither spacetime nor spatiotemporally located entites exist at a fundamental level. The loss of both brings with it the threat of empirical incoherence. A theory is empirically incoherent when the truth of that theory undermines the empirical justif...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 199; no. 2; pp. 413 - 440
Autor principal: Baron, Sam
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Dec2021 Supplement 2
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: Baron, Sam
        affil: Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, 6009, Crawley, Australia
      su:
        Spacetime
        Quantum gravity
      sug:
        subj:
          Spacetime
          Quantum gravity
      keyword:
        Empirical incoherence
        Functionalism
        Helon
        Loop quantum gravity
        Observation
      ab: Recent work on quantum gravity (QG) suggests that neither spacetime nor spatiotemporally located entites exist at a fundamental level. The loss of both brings with it the threat of empirical incoherence. A theory is empirically incoherent when the truth of that theory undermines the empirical justification for believing it. If neither spacetime nor spatiotemporally located entities exist as a part of a fundamental theory of QG, then such a theory seems to imply that there are no observables and so no way that the theory can be confirmed. The threat of empirical incoherence can be addressed by treating spacetime and spatiotemporally located entities as emergent. The question then arises as to what the metaphysical nature of this emergence might be. In this paper, I explore a functionalist approach to this kind of emergence in the context of loop quantum gravity. I begin by rehearsing the spacetime functionalist's account of emergence, clarifying the view along the way. I proceed to sketch out a functionalist treatment of spatiotemporally located entities and combine the two forms of functionalism into a double functionalism, according to which both spacetime and matter have the same functional realisers.
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    language: English
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