Ideas of Carl Hoefer, by Theme

[Canadian, fl. 1996, Professor at Western University, Canada.]

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27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 4. Substantival Space
General Relativity allows substantivalism about space-time - that it has independent properties
     Full Idea: General Relativity describes space-time in a way that allows it to exist with determinate properties not reducible to the properties and relations of its material contents. Hence nearly all physicists and philosophers writing on GR are substantivalists.
     From: Carl Hoefer (The Metaphysics of Space-Time Substantivalism [1996], p.5), quoted by Barbara Vetter - Potentiality 7.3
     A reaction: I'm encouraged by this, as I instinctly favour substantivalism. Imagine removing all the objects from space-time, one by one. What happens as you approach the end of the task? Once they are removed, can they be replaced?