Physicalism and Ontological Holism

Author: Esfeld, Michael

Source: Metaphilosophy, Volume 30, Number 4, October 1999 , pp. 319-337(19)

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Abstract:

The claim of this paper is that we should envisage physicalism as an ontological holism. Our current basic physics, quantum theory, suggests that, ontologically speaking, we have to assume one global quantum state of the world; many of the properties that are often taken to be intrinsic properties of physical systems are in fact relations, which are determined by that global quantum state. The paper elaborates on this conception of physicalism as an ontological holism and considers issues such as supervenience, realization of higher-order properties by basic physical properties, and reduction.

Keywords: physicalism; holism; relations; space-time; quantum physics; Humean supervenience

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9973.00141

Affiliations: 1: University of Hertfordshire, Department of Humanities, Aldenham, UK

Publication date: 1999-10-01