SMuK 2021 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 1: Metaphysics of Physics

AGPhil 1.3: Invited Talk

Monday, August 30, 2021, 12:15–13:00, H4

Structuralism as a Stance — •Kerry McKenzie — UC San Diego, USA

Bas van Fraassen argues in `The Empirical Stance' that physicalism - the view that fundamentally all is physical - should be viewed not as a doctrine but rather as a `stance': that is, as a cluster of attitudes, policies, and heuristics concerning how to theorize and conduct research. In this talk, I will argue that the same considerations support regarding ontic structuralism - the view that fundamentally all is structure - as a stance also. More specifically, I will argue that rather than a doctrine about how the world is fundamentally, structuralism should be viewed as the injunction to always foreground in one's metaphysics the fact that the language of physics is mathematics. Some benefits of doing so will be presented.