Substantivalism vs Relationalism About Space in Classical Physics

• DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12219
• Publication Date: 2015-09-04T18:54:36Z
• Authors: Shamik Dasgupta
• Keywords: 05 social sciences; 0509 other social sciences

AbstractSubstantivalism is the view that space exists in addition to any material bodies situated within it. Relationalism is the opposing view that there is no such thing as space; there are just material bodies, spatially related to one another. This paper assesses this issue in the context of classical physics. It starts by describing the bucket argument for substantivalism. It then turns to anti‐substantivalist arguments, including Leibniz's classic arguments and their contemporary reincarnation under the guise of ‘symmetry’. It argues that these anti‐substantivalist arguments are stronger than is often acknowledged.