• Relativist
    2.5k
    Does a thin particular exist? If so, it is an SOA.Metaphysician Undercover
    Non sequiter. Consider that "-1" electric charge exists, but it doesn't exist as an independent entity. It exists only in states of affairs, like electrons. The same is true for a thin particular: it exists, but only as a constituent in a SOA.

    If it is not further decomposable it is not an SOA, therefore not something which exists in the world,Metaphysician Undercover
    Another non-sequitur. I haven't actually described the way lower order states of affairs form into higher order (more complex) states of affairs. Lets's stick with the lowest order: the atomic states of affairs. They are the simplest possible objects that exist in the world. They are not decomposible.
    The wave is not an entity though. By accepted theories, there is no medium (ether), therefore no real wave, just particles without any location, and a mathematical abstraction (wave function) which describes the particles.Metaphysician Undercover

    In his book, "Quanta and Fields", Sean Carroll says, "the wave function is how we describe reality...According to our current best understanding, quantum fields are the bare stuff of reality....For a field, locality means that how it evolves at any one point in spacetime only depends on the value of that field and other fields at that same point, as well as the immediate neighborhood of that point."

    Do you accept this description?
  • Thales
    34
    Please forgive me if this is totally off-topic, but this discussion brings to my mind Wittenstein’s Tractatus, which on the opening page reads:

    “The world is the totality of facts, not of things.”

    “Facts,” for example, allow for the recognition of relations without the necessity of assigning “physical (or immaterial) existence” to them. “The back door is to the right of the dining room table” describes the relation of two physical objects to each other. Again, “to the right of,” is a relation and not a physical object; and yet it exists in the world. It’s a fact, not a thing.

    "Facts” also allow for the recognition of other categories of non-physical reality. Interest rates, for example, are arguably real while, at the same time, not regarded as physical objects. But neither are interest rates considered mystical, spiritual or immaterial. After all, interest rates directly affect the amount of money that accumulates in bank accounts.

    Interestingly, physical events such as hurricanes and war can affect interest rates; and so can non-physical situations such as panic and market conditions. So again, it’s perhaps best to say interest rates are facts, not physical (or immaterial) things.

    Again, apologies for my making this sideways comment! Keep twalking amongst yourselves! :cool:
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