Without Hierarchy: The Scale Freedom of the Universe

291 Pages·2013·4.337 MB·English

by  Mariam Thalos

Without Hierarchy
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Without Hierarchy
The Scale Freedom of the Universe
MARIAM THALOS

1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Th alos, Mariam, 1962–
Without hierarchy : the scale freedom of the universe / Mariam Th alos.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-19-991764-8 (alk. paper)
1. Causation. 2. Science—Philosophy. 3. Physics—Philosophy. I. Title.
Q175.32.C38T43 2013
501—dc23 2012045539
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For my son Oliver Ethan Richardson, who has the heart of a mathematician
and a soul that hungers to glimpse all the intelligible world.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i x
Introduction: Toward a Th eory of Science
3
PART ONE SCALE FREEDOM MULTIPLY CONTEXTUALIZED
1. Against the Philosophy of a One-Scale Universe
31
2. Resheathing
79
PART TWO PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE AND
METAPHYSICS
3. Multiple Conceptions of Fundamentality
105
4. Why Causation Cannot Be the Cement of the Universe
127
5. Moves and Movers: Notes on the Progress of Science
154
6. Making Sense of Order: Th e True Cement of the Universe
170
PART THREE DEPLOYMENTS
7. Th e Logic of Leading and Following
193
8. Th e “Microcosm” of Unity (of Science) Th at Is Physics
222
Conclusion: Toward a More Truth-Illuminating Metaphysics
240
References 267
Index 2 73
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Th is book has benefi tt ed from the wisdom of many people over the several
decades during which its component parts have been a work in progress. My
feeble gesture here at formal thanks to individuals by name will doubtless miss
at least one someone who has played an important part in fostering or devel-
oping the ideas in this book. And for that I am deeply sorry. Th e most subtle
i nfl uences are oft en the hardest to remember, despite being the most pervasive,
while bold cautionary remarks and broad encouragement bound easily to mind.
And sometimes the thanks one is due comes too late; two of the people I shall
name here can no longer be thanked properly. Still, it does good to give thanks
where thanks are due, and it will be my pleasure to do that by beginning with the
present and working backwards.
I want to thank colleagues at the University of Utah who have indulged my
periodic and quite oft en incoherent ramblings on the subjects of this book:
Chrisoula Andreou, Stephen Downes, Leslie Francis, Matt Haber, Bruce Lan-
desman, Lije Millgram, Clif McIntosh, Anya Plutynski, Jonah Shupbach, Cindy
Stark and Nick White; and thanks too to Ron Mallon, Ram Neta, and Shaun
Nichols, now former colleagues. I owe a special debt to Barry Smith, my fi rst
colleague-mentor at the University at Buff alo. His minimalist but carefully calcu-
lated style of guidance has been indispensable in my development as a writer
and professional philosopher. Newton Garver, Jorge Gracia, Peter Hare, and
John Kearns also gave freely of friendship and support to their junior colleague
in Buff alo.
My fi rst teachers in philosophy (to which discipline I arrived late in my stu-
dent career) played an early role in the development of my ideas about science
and its dignity. Th anks to Rolf Eberle, Henry Kyburg, Jr., and Deborah Modrak,
without whose kindness as people and teachers I should never have learned to
appreciate the histories shaping fundamental conceptions. And a special thanks
ix