Metaphysics of Quantities

Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-883708-4
Verlag: Oxford University Press(UK)

Buch, Englisch, 226 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 508 g

What are physical quantities, and in particular, what makes them quantitative?

This book articulates and defends an original answer to this important, insufficiently understood question through the novel position of substantival structuralism. This position argues that quantitativeness is an irreducible feature of attributes, and quantitative attributes are best understood as substantival structured spaces. The book first explores what it means for an attribute to be quantitative, and what metaphysical implications a commitment to quantitative attributes has. It then sets the stage to address the metaphysical and ontological consequences of the existence of quantitative attributes.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wolff, J E

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Introduction

- 2: Quantities as Determinables

- 3: Quantities as Numerical Attributes

- 4: Quantitative Attributes or Measurable Concepts

- 5: The Representational Theory of Measurement

- 6: Representationalism as a Basis for Metaphysics

- 7: Ontologies for Quantities

- 8: Questions of Priority: Relations or Relata?

- 9: Fundamental Structure for Quantities

- 10: A Structuralist View of Quantities

Über Autor(innen)

Jo E. Wolff is Senior Lecturer in Metaphysics and Philosophy of Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Wolff earned a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University and held appointments at the University of Hong Kong and King's College London before joining the department at Edinburgh in 2019.