The Regularity Account of Relational Spacetime.
A version of relationism that takes spatiotemporal structures-spatial geometry and a standard of inertia-to supervene on the history of relations between bodies is described and defended. The account is used to explain how the relationist should con- strue models of Newtonian mechanics in which abso...
| Published in: | Mind (0026-4423) Vol. 115; no. 457; pp. 41 - 74 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jan2006
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | A version of relationism that takes spatiotemporal structures-spatial geometry and a standard of inertia-to supervene on the history of relations between bodies is described and defended. The account is used to explain how the relationist should con- strue models of Newtonian mechanics in which absolute acceleration manifestly does not supervene on the relations; Ptolemaic and Copernican models for example. The account introduces a new way in which a Lewis-style 'best system' might capture regularities in a broadly Humean world; a defence is given against a charge of indeterminism that applies to any such approach to laws. |
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