Spacetime functionalism and the collapse problem.
Recent work in quantum gravity (QG) suggests that spacetime is not fundamental. Rather, spacetime emerges from an underlying non-spatiotemporal reality. Spacetime functionalism has been proposed as one way to make sense of the emergence of spacetime. However, spacetime functionalism faces a 'collaps...
| Published in: | Synthese Vol. 207; no. 1; pp. 1 - 26 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Jan2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190357286&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 190357286 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 207 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 190357286 10.1007/s11229-025-05335-6 ppf: 1 ppct: 25 formats: tig: atl: Spacetime functionalism and the collapse problem. aug: au: Baron, Sam affil: https://ror.org/01ej9dk98 School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia su: Spacetime Quantum gravity Ontology Metaphysics Functionals Emergence (Philosophy) Theorists sug: subj: Spacetime Quantum gravity Ontology Metaphysics Functionals Emergence (Philosophy) Theorists keyword: Emergence Functionalism Fundamentality ab: Recent work in quantum gravity (QG) suggests that spacetime is not fundamental. Rather, spacetime emerges from an underlying non-spatiotemporal reality. Spacetime functionalism has been proposed as one way to make sense of the emergence of spacetime. However, spacetime functionalism faces a 'collapse' problem. The functionalist analysis seems to force spacetime into the (more) fundamental ontology of QG, thereby conflicting with—rather than elucidating—spacetime emergence. In this paper, I show how to resolve the collapse problem. The solution is to draw on an existing distinction between physical and metaphysical notions of (relative) fundamentality. Using this distinction, we can see that spacetime functionalism does not after all force spacetime into the (more) fundamental ontology of QG in any troubling sense. Along the way, I suggest how to extend this solution to similar collapse problems in other domains. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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