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179095

On the origin of structure in the universe

Julian Barbour

pp. 120-131

Abstract

The most obvious thing about the universe in which we find ourselves is its structure. Indeed, according to the basic philosophical viewpoint adopted by thinkers such as Berkeley, Leibniz and Mach, it would not really be possible to speak of the universe at all if it did not exhibit differentiating structure and qualities. Leibniz's monadology equates existence with variety: monads are defined by and simultaneously distinguished from other monads by virtue of their attributes and nothing else. You cannot remove the attributes of a thing and leave some mysterious "thisness" (haeccity). Remove the attributes and nothing is left.

Publication details

Published in:

Rudolph Enno, Stamatescu Ion-Olimpiu (1994) Philosophy, mathematics and modern physics: a dialogue. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 120-131

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-78808-6_8

Full citation:

Barbour Julian (1994) „On the origin of structure in the universe“, In: E. Rudolph & I. Stamatescu (eds.), Philosophy, mathematics and modern physics, Dordrecht, Springer, 120–131.