Geometric Possibility, Ideological Parsimony, and Monistic Substantivalism

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorDavis, Cruz Austinen
dc.contributor.committeechairTrogdon, Kelly Griffithen
dc.contributor.committeememberJantzen, Benjamin C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberKlagge, James C.en
dc.contributor.departmentPhilosophyen
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-30T08:00:19Zen
dc.date.available2017-06-30T08:00:19Zen
dc.date.issued2017-06-29en
dc.description.abstractMonistic substantivalists believe that material objects and regions of space-time are not two distinct kinds of fundamental of entities. For the monist, objects either are identical with regions or are somehow derivative from them. Dualistic substantivalists view regions and objects as distinct kinds of fundamental entities. One virtue monists claim over dualists is that their view is more ideologically parsimonious than dualism because monists can do without a primitive notion of location. In this paper I provide an argument that undercuts some of the theoretical edge that monists claim over dualists. The assumption that the monist can provide a reduction of location unique to her position rests on a false assumption about the possible structures spacetime can have. If it is metaphysically possible for two distinct regions to coincide with respect to all their significant spatiotemporal properties and relations (call these 'coincident regions'), then analyses of location unique to monism will turn out to be inadequate.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:11736en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/78282en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectSubstantivalismen
dc.subjectsupersubstantivalismen
dc.subjectmaterial objectsen
dc.subjecttheoretic virtuesen
dc.subjectideological parsimonyen
dc.subjectgeometric possibilityen
dc.subjectprinciple of plenitudeen
dc.titleGeometric Possibility, Ideological Parsimony, and Monistic Substantivalismen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Davis_CA_T_2017.pdf
Size:
206.64 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Masters Theses