The Extensive Continuum versus the Extensive Dis-Continuum in Whitehead
In this article, I argue for the redundancy of Whitehead's Platonic notion of the extensive continuum, counterposing it to his related notion of an atomic ether of events. I argue that Whitehead's atomic ether is more compatible with orthodox general relativity than generally supposed an...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Illinois Press
[2018]
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In: |
Process studies
Year: 2018, Volume: 47, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 5-25 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Whitehead, Alfred North 1861-1947
/ Object (Philosophy)
/ Continuity
/ Geometry
/ Abstraction
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RelBib Classification: | TK Recent history VA Philosophy |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | In this article, I argue for the redundancy of Whitehead's Platonic notion of the extensive continuum, counterposing it to his related notion of an atomic ether of events. I argue that Whitehead's atomic ether is more compatible with orthodox general relativity than generally supposed and remarkably close to the contemporary idea of a discrete manifold in the causal set theory of quantum gravity. I argue that the method of extensive abstraction complements Whitehead's atomic hypothesis by demonstrating the ultimately fictive nature of any continuum. |
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ISSN: | 2154-3682 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Process studies
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5840/process2018471/21 |