The paper discusses the possible implications of the relational framework of Pure Shape Dynamics for the metaphysics of time. The starting point of the analysis is an interpretation of shapes in ontic structural realist terms, which gives rise to the notion of self-subsisting structure. The relational version of a Newtonian-particle toy model is introduced and discussed as a concrete example.

The paper presents an extension of the metaphysics of self-subsisting structures set out in a companion paper to the realm of non-relativistic quantum physics. The discussion is centered around a Pure Shape Dynamics model representing a relational implementation of a de Broglie-Bohm N-body system. An interpretation of this model in terms of self-subsisting structures is proposed and assessed against the background of the debate on the metaphysics of quantum physics, with a particular emphasis on the nature of the wave function. (...) The analysis shows that elaborating an appropriate Leibnizian/Machian metaphysics of the quantum world requires a substantial revision of the notion of world-building relation. (shrink)

In a recent paper as an alternative to models based on the notion of ideal mathematical point, characterized by a property of separatedness, we considered a viewpoint based on the notion of continuous change, making use of elements of a non-classical logic, in particular the fuzzy sets theory, with events represented as spatiotemporally blurred blobs. Here we point out and discuss a number of aspects of this imperfect symbolic description that might potentially be misleading. Besides that, we analyze its relation (...) to various concepts used commonly to model physical systems, denoted by terms like: point, set, continuous, discrete, infinite, or local, clarifying further how our viewpoint is different and asking whether, in light of our main postulate, any of these notions, or their opposites, if exist, are in their usual meanings suitable to accurately describe the natural phenomena. (shrink)