Volume 99, Issue 4 p. 817-841
Original Article

Physical Magnitudes

Marco Dees

Marco Dees

Philosophy Department, Vassar College

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First published: 14 March 2018
Citations: 3

Abstract

Scientific properties come in degrees: elephants are more massive than mice. Are facts like these fundamental or can they be explained in other terms? This article argues that the structure of physical quantities like mass reduces to facts about the role that mass plays in the laws of nature. On this view elephants are more massive than mice partly in virtue of the fact that elephants are harder to throw around.

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