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How to Defeat Wüthrich's Abysmal Embarrassment Argument against Space-Time Structuralism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

F. A. Muller
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Abstract

In his award-winning contribution to the biannual PSA conference at Pittsburgh in 2008, Christian Wüthrich mounted an argument against structuralism about space-time in the context of the general theory of relativity (GTR), to the effect that structuralists cannot discern space-time points: an “abysmal embarrassment” for the structuralist, Wüthrich judged. Wüthrich's characterization of space-time structuralism is however incorrect. We demonstrate how, on the basis of a correct characterization of space-time structuralism, it is possible to discern space-time points in the GTR structures under consideration. Thus Wüthrich's argument crumbles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 78 , Issue 5 , December 2011 , pp. 1046 - 1057
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

My gratitude to Chris Wüthrich for valuable communication by e-mail.

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