Hyperdeterminism? Spacetime 'Analyzed'.
When modelling spacetime and classical physical fields, one typically assumes smoothness (infinite differentiability). But this assumption and its philosophical implications have not been sufficiently scrutinized. For example, we can appeal to analytic functions instead, which are also often used by...
| Published in: | Erkenntnis Vol. 91; no. 3; pp. 1043 - 1059 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Mar2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=191693391&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 191693391 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01650106 5KZ jtl: Erkenntnis issn: 01650106 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 91 iid: 3 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 191693391 10.1007/s10670-025-00924-w ppf: 1043 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 932KB tig: atl: Hyperdeterminism? Spacetime 'Analyzed'. aug: au: Chen, Lu Fritz, Tobias affil: https://ror.org/03taz7m60 Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA https://ror.org/054pv6659 Department of Mathematics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria su: Spacetime Analytic functions Free will & determinism Philosophy of science General relativity (Physics) Mathematical models sug: subj: Spacetime Analytic functions Free will & determinism Philosophy of science General relativity (Physics) Mathematical models keyword: Philosophy and Religious Studies Philosophy ab: When modelling spacetime and classical physical fields, one typically assumes smoothness (infinite differentiability). But this assumption and its philosophical implications have not been sufficiently scrutinized. For example, we can appeal to analytic functions instead, which are also often used by physicists. Doing so leads to very different philosophical interpretations of a theory. For instance, our world would be 'hyperdeterministic' with analytic functions, in the sense that every field configuration is uniquely determined by its restriction to an arbitrarily small region. Relatedly, the hole argument of general relativity does not get off the ground. We argue that such an appeal to analytic functions is technically feasible and, conceptually, not obviously objectionable. The moral is to warn against rushing to draw philosophical conclusions from physical theories, given their drastic sensitivity to mathematical formalisms. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Erkenntnis is a copyright of Springer, 2026. All Rights Reserved. item: Erkenntnis holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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