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Full Idea
If space does not exist at all, but is only relations between objects, what could one possibly mean by saying that there is a place which is unoccupied by any material object? And what determines whether space is bounded?
Gist of Idea
If space is entirely relational, what makes a boundary, or a place unoccupied by physical objects?
Source
E.J. Lowe (A Survey of Metaphysics [2002], p.264)
Book Ref
Lowe,E.J.: 'A Survey of Metaphysics' [OUP 2002], p.264
A Reaction
Correct. People who assert that space is only relational have been misled by what we can know about space, not what it is.
| 1511 | If everything is in a place, what is the place in? Place doesn't exist [Zeno of Elea, by Simplicius] |
| 5098 | Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body [Aristotle] |
| 15980 | We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing [Locke] |
| 12952 | Space is an order among actual and possible things [Leibniz] |
| 18219 | Relational space is problematic if you take the idea of a field seriously [Field,H] |
| 22928 | For relationists moving an object beyond the edge of space creates new space [Le Poidevin] |
| 4228 | If space is entirely relational, what makes a boundary, or a place unoccupied by physical objects? [Lowe] |
| 21190 | 'Space' in physics just means location [Hesketh] |