The Metaphysics of Hyperspace

Abstract

This collection of chapters on metaphysics and philosophy of religion is organized around the theme of hyperspace. The book contains critical discussions and evaluations of some non-theistic reasons to believe in hyperspace in Chapter 1 (e.g., reasons arising from reflection on incongruent counterparts and fine-tuning arguments), of some theistic reasons in Chapter 7 (e.g., reasons arising from reflection on puzzles known as the problem of the best and the problem of evil), and of some distinctively Christian reasons in Chapter 8 (e.g., reasons arising from reflection on traditional Christian themes such as heaven and hell, the Garden of Eden, angels and demons, and new testament miracles). In the intervening chapters, the book provides critical discussions of a variety of puzzles in the metaphysics of material objects that are either generated by the hypothesis of hyperspace (e.g., the topics of mirror determinism and mirror incompatibilism) or else informed by the hypothesis of hyperspace (e.g., theories of receptacles, boundaries, contact, the four-color theorem, location and occupation relations, extended mereological simples, and superluminal motion).

Spacetime the one substance

“…Thus Locke says of bodies that ''necessarily each of them exclude any [other bodies] out of the same place'' such that ''could two bodies be in the same place at the same time; then those two parcels of matter must be one and the same' ' (1996, p. 134;c.f. Zimmerman 1996;Hudson 2006). Or at least, if one thinks of a table and a chair, and asks if they occupy the same spacetime region, I take it that the obvious answer is no.…”

Omnipresence and the Location of the Immaterial

“…As was noted above, this sets them in contrast to widely endorsed analyses of the nature of the material in the contemporary literature. 30 But suppose the theist is attracted to the above line of thinking that allows for immaterial objects to entend the non-point sized places where they are spatially located. How might the theist resist the unorthodox view that God is a material object, given that standard analyses of 'material object' preclude God's being situated in space in this manner?…”

“…33 30 Though there are dissenters. William Lycan (2009), for instance, suggests that dualists opt for the view that minds are literally located in space (partly to solve the interaction problem); this would, by his lights, in no way undermine the mind's being immaterial.…”

“…As is well known, dispositions or powers can exist unmanifested; the manifestation of a power is liable to preventers, masks, finks, etc., such that an object's having the power 42 See Hudson (2005), especially chapter 4, for a host of objections to the possibility of extended simples. Also, see Gilmore (2014) for a nice general summary of the current state of the debate.…”

The Difficulty with Demarcating Panentheism

“…It is not clear to me how the panentheist can use this to justify her claim that her model of God is 82 For more on the distinction between metaphysical and physical space and time see (Mullins, 2016). 83 (Hudson, 2005) (Hudson, 2014). more scientific than other rivals, but I have independent doubts about this claim anyway.…”