Categorical Generalization and Physical Structuralism

Raymond Lal; Nicholas J. Teh

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arXiv · 1404.3049

Categorical Generalization and Physical Structuralism

Raymond Lal·Nicholas J. Teh

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Abstract

Category theory has become central to certain aspects of theoretical physics. Bain [Synthese, 190:1621--1635 (2013)] has recently argued that this has significance for ontic structural realism. We argue against this claim. In so doing, we uncover two pervasive forms of category-theoretic generalization. We call these `generalization by duality' and `generalization by categorifying physical processes'. We describe in detail how these arise, and explain their significance using detailed examples. We show that their significance is two-fold: the articulation of high-level physical concepts, and the generation of new models.

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Raymond Lal, Nicholas J. Teh. 2014-04-11. Categorical Generalization and Physical Structuralism. https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.3049

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