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A formal theory of objects, space and time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

Wayne D. Blizard
Wayne D. Blizard*
Affiliation:
Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB21SB, England
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Extract

The two statements “Two different objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time” and “An object cannot be in two different places at the same time” are axioms of our everyday understanding of objects, space and time. We develop a first-order theory OST (Objects, Space and Time) in which formal equivalents of these two statements are taken as axioms. Using the theory OST, we uncover other fundamental principles of objects, space and time. We attempt to understand the logical nature of these principles, to investigate their formal consequences, and to identify logical alternatives to them. For easy reference, all of the nonlogical axioms of OST are listed together at the end of §2. In §3, we introduce two possible extensions of OST.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Symbolic Logic , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 74 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Symbolic Logic 1990

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References

REFERENCES

[1]Spelke, E. S., Where perceiving ends and thinking begins: the apprehension of objects in infancy, Perceptual development in infancy (Yonas, A., editor), Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, vol. 20, L. Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988, pp. 197–234.Google Scholar
[2]Sorabji, Richard, Matter, space and motion: theories in antiquity and their sequel, Duckworth, London, 1988.Google Scholar