2018/07/07 by Sebastian De Haro, De Haro, Sebastian, Henk W. de Regt +1 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Environmental Science · #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Philosophy and History of Science #Science and Climate Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1807.02639
openalex publication_date 2018/07/07 · openalex created_date 2022/08/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
While the relation between visualization and scientific understanding has\nbeen a topic of long-standing discussion, recent developments in physics have\npushed the boundaries of this debate to new and still unexplored realms. For it\nis claimed that, in certain theories of quantum gravity, spacetime\n'disappears': and this suggests that one may have sensible physical theories in\nwhich spacetime is completely absent. This makes the philosophical question\nwhether such theories are intelligible, even more pressing. And if such\ntheories are intelligible, the question then is how they manage to do so. In\nthis paper, we adapt the contextual theory of scientific understanding,\ndeveloped by one of us, to fit the novel challenges posed by physical theories\nwithout spacetime. We construe understanding as a matter of skill rather than\njust knowledge. The appeal is thus to understanding, rather than explanation,\nbecause we will be concerned with the tools that scientists have at their\ndisposal for understanding these theories. Our central thesis is that such\nphysical theories can provide scientific understanding, and that such\nunderstanding does not require spacetimes of any sort. Our argument consists of\nfour consecutive steps: (a) We argue, from the general theory of scientific\nunderstanding, that although visualization is an oft-used tool for\nunderstanding, it is not a necessary condition for it; (b) we criticise certain\nmetaphysical preconceptions which can stand in the way of recognising how\nintelligibility without spacetime can be had; (c) we catalogue tools for\nrendering theories without a spacetime intelligible; and (d) we give examples\nof cases in which understanding is attained without a spacetime, and explain\nwhat kind of understanding these examples provide.\n