What price spacetime substantivalism? The hole story

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (4):515-525 (1987)
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Abstract

Spacetime substantivalism leads to a radical form of indeterminism within a very broad class of spacetime theories which include our best spacetime theory, general relativity. Extending an argument from Einstein, we show that spacetime substantivalists are committed to very many more distinct physical states than these theories' equations can determine, even with the most extensive boundary conditions

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Author Profiles

John Earman
University of Pittsburgh
John D. Norton
University of Pittsburgh

Citations of this work

Deterministic Theories.Hans Halvorson, J. B. Manchak & James Owen Weatherall - 2026 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
Inference to the Best explanation.Peter Lipton - 2008 - In Martin Curd & Stathis Psillos, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science. New York: Routledge. pp. 193.
On the Mathematics and Metaphysics of the Hole Argument.Oliver Pooley & James Read - 2025 - The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 76 (1):21-43.
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