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Meaning of substantivalism | Babel Free

Noun CEFR C2

Definitions

The doctrine that space and time have an existence independent of physical things.

Examples

“Several philosophers of science have argued that the general theory of relativity actually supports spacetime substantivalism (if not separate spatial and temporal substantivalisms) since it allows solutions consisting of nothing but a differentiable manifold with metric tensor field […]”
“In it, Clarke defends on behalf of Newton a form of substantivalism according to which (absolute) space exists independently of matter and is as real as matter.”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
See all C2 English words →

See also

substantivalist substantivation substantive substantive adjective substantive case substantive due process

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