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Single Idea 14588

[from 'Three-Dimensionalism v Four-Dimensionalism' by John Hawthorne, in 27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 6. Space-Time ]

Full Idea

Nowadays it is common for metaphysicians to hold both that space-time regions are less fundamental than the space-time points that compose them, and that facts about the regions are less fundamental than facts about the points and their arrangements.

Gist of Idea

Modern metaphysicians tend to think space-time points are more fundamental than space-time regions

Source

John Hawthorne (Three-Dimensionalism v Four-Dimensionalism [2008], 1)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.264


A Reaction

I'm not quite sure what a physicist would make of this. It seems to be motivated by some a priori preference for atomism, and for system-building from minimal foundations.