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18950 | Physics is full of non-physical entities, such as space-vectors [Putnam] |
Full Idea: Physics is full of references to such 'non-physical' entities as state-vectors, Hamiltonians, Hilbert space etc. | |
From: Hilary Putnam (Philosophy of Logic [1971], Ch.2) | |
A reaction: I take these to be concepts which are 'abstracted' from the physical facts, and so they don't strike me as being much of an ontological problem, or an objection to nominalism (which Putnam takes them to be). |