Space Emergence in Contemporary Physics: Why We Do Not Need Fundamentality, Layers of Reality and Emergence

‘Space does not exist fundamentally: it emerges from a more fundamental non-spatial structure.’ This intriguing claim appears in various research programs in contemporary physics. Philosophers of physics tend to believe that this claim entails either that spacetime does not exist, or that it is derivatively real. In this article, I introduce and defend a third metaphysical interpretation of the claim: reductionism about space. I argue that, as a result, there is no need to subscribe to fundamentality, layers of reality and emergence in order to analyse the constitution of space by non-spatial entities. It follows that space constitution, if borne out, does not provide empirical evidence in favour of a stratified, Aristotelian in spirit, metaphysics. The view will be described in relation to two particular research programs in contemporary physics: wave function realism and loop quantum gravity

Courbe de Phillips et modèle WS-PS:Quelques réflexions

Rompant avec la pratique empirique des courbes de Phillips caractérisées par une influence négative du taux de chômage sur le taux de croissance des salaires, les « nouvelles théories du chômage » ont voulu refonder le concept de taux de chômage d'équilibre à partir de courbes WS-PS, basées sur des modèles théoriques, où le taux de chômage joue négativement sur le niveau des salaires. Elles ambitionnent d'expliquer ainsi la croissance et la persistance du chômage de masse en Europe depuis vingt-cinq ans. Toutefois, l'existence et les déterminants d'une cible de long terme de salaire réel posent de délicats problèmes théoriques et empiriques ; aussi, les divers travaux de cette école fournissent-ils des explications contradictoires de la hausse du chômage.Breaking with the empirical practice of Phillips Curves characterised by a negative influence of the unemployment rate on growth rate of nominal wages, the « new unemployment theories » have tried to restate the concept of equilibrium rate of unemployment from WS-PS curves, based on theoretical and micro-economic works, in which the unemployment rate has a negative impact on the level of wages. They claim to explain the growth and the persistence of mass unemployment in Europe since 25 years. However, the existence and the features of the real wage target that are postulated by this approach set many delicate theoretical and empirical problems. Thus, the various works of this school give contradictory explanations of the rise of unemployment