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Full Idea
Unless we are prepared to believe that absolute position makes sense, the very idea of a point as an entity in its own right must be rejected as not merely mysterious but absurd.
Gist of Idea
The concept of a 'point' makes no sense without the idea of absolute position
Source
Willard Quine (Propositional Objects [1965], p.149)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.149
A Reaction
The fact that without absolute position we can only think of 'points' as relative to a conceptual grid doesn't stop the grid from picking out actual locations in space, as shown by latitude and longitude.
| 10863 | Cantor proved that three dimensions have the same number of points as one dimension [Cantor, by Clegg] |
| 16962 | Whitehead replaced points with extended regions [Whitehead, by Quine] |
| 14160 | Space is the extension of 'point', and aggregates of points seem necessary for geometry [Russell] |
| 18970 | The concept of a 'point' makes no sense without the idea of absolute position [Quine] |
| 17811 | The natural conception of points ducks the problem of naming or constructing each point [Kreisel] |
| 17707 | We should regard space as made up of many tiny pieces [Feynman, by Mares] |
| 18257 | Why should the limit of measurement be points, not intervals? [Dummett] |
| 3334 | Rationalists see points as fundamental, but empiricists prefer regions [Benardete,JA] |
| 22922 | We can identify unoccupied points in space, so they must exist [Le Poidevin] |
| 22924 | If spatial points exist, then they must be stationary, by definition [Le Poidevin] |
| 8269 | Points are limits of parts of space, so parts of space cannot be aggregates of them [Lowe] |
| 4227 | Surfaces, lines and points are not, strictly speaking, parts of space, but 'limits', which are abstract [Lowe] |
| 17708 | Maybe space has points, but processes always need regions with a size [Mares] |