Might the world be structured, as Leibniz thought, so that every part of matter is divided ad infinitum? The Physicist David
Bohm accepted infinitely decomposable matter, and even Steven Weinberg, a staunch supporter of the idea that science is converging
on a final theory, admits the possibility of an endless chain of ever more fundamental theories. However, if there is no fundamental
level, physicalism, thought of as the view that everything is determined by fundamental phenomena and that all fundamental
phenomena are physical, turns out false, for in such a world, there are no fundamental phenomena, and so fundamental phenomena
determine nothing. While some take physicalism necessarily to posit a fundamental level, here I present a thesis of physicalism
that allows for its truth even in an infinitely decomposable world.
Manuscript submitted 24 March 2005