Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:50:48.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Structuralist Conception of Objects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Anjan Chakravartty
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores the consequences of the two most prominent forms of contemporary structural realism for the notion of objecthood. Epistemic structuralists hold that we can know structural aspects of reality, but nothing about the natures of unobservable relata whose relations define structures. Ontic structuralists hold that we can know structural aspects of reality, and that there is nothing else to know—objects are useful heuristic posits, but are ultimately ontologically dispensable. I argue that structuralism does not succeed in ridding a structuralist ontology of objects.

Type
Realism
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2003 , pp. 867 - 878
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Demopoulos, William, and Friedman, Michael (1985), “Critical Notice: Bertrand Russell's The Analysis of Matter: Its Historical Context and Contemporary Interest”, Critical Notice: Bertrand Russell's The Analysis of Matter: Its Historical Context and Contemporary Interest 52:621–639.Google Scholar
French, Steven (1989), “Identity and Individuality in Classical and Quantum Physics”, Identity and Individuality in Classical and Quantum Physics 67:432–446.Google Scholar
French, Steven (1998), “On the Withering Away of Physical Objects”, in Castellani, Elena (ed.), Interpreting Bodies: Classical and Quantum Objects in Modern Physics. Guildford, UK: Princeton University Press, 93–113.Google Scholar
French, Steven, and Ladyman, James (forthcoming), “Remodelling Structural Realism: Quantum Mechanics and the Metaphysics of Structure”, Synthese.Google Scholar
Huggett, Nick (1997), “Identity, Quantum Mechanics and Common Sense”, Identity, Quantum Mechanics and Common Sense 80:118–130.Google Scholar
Ladyman, James (1998), “What is Structural Realism?”, What is Structural Realism? 29:409–424.Google Scholar
Maxwell, Grover (1970a), “Theories, Perception, and Structural Realism”, in Colodny, Robert G. (ed.), The Nature and Function of Scientific Theories, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Maxwell, Grover (1970b), “Structural Realism and the Meaning of Theoretical Terms”, in Radner, Michael and Winokur, Stephen (eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 4. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Psillos, Stathis (2001), “Is Structural Realism Possible?”, Is Structural Realism Possible? 68:S13–S24.Google Scholar
Quine, Quine Willard van (1976), “Wither Physical Objects”, in Cohen, Robert S., Feyerabend, Paul K., and Wartofsky, Marx W. (eds.), Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand (1927), The Analysis of Matter. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand (1948), Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, Sidney (1980), “Causality and Properties”, in Time and Cause, Peter van Inwagen (ed.). Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Swoyer, Chris (1982), “The Nature of Natural Laws”, The Nature of Natural Laws 60:203–223.Google Scholar
van Fraassen, Bas C. (1991), Quantum Mechanics: An Empiricist View. Oxford: Clarendon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Worrall, John (1989), “Structural Realism: The Best of Both Worlds?”, Structural Realism: The Best of Both Worlds? 43:99–124.Google Scholar
Zahar, Eli G. (1996), “Poincaré's Structural Realism and His Logic of Discovery”, in Greffe, Jean-Louis, Heinzmann, Gerhard and Lorenz, Kuno (eds.), Henri Poincaré: Science and Philosophy. Berlin: Akademie Verlag & A. Blanchard, 45–68.Google Scholar