  We present a new metaphysical framework for physics that is conceptually
clear, ontologically parsimonious, and empirically adequate. This framework
relies on the notion of self-subsisting structure, that is, a set of
fundamental physical elements whose individuation and behavior are described in
purely relational terms, without any need for a background spacetime. Although
the specification of the fundamental elements of the ontology depends on the
particular physical domain considered -- and is thus susceptible to scientific
progress -- , the empirically successful structural features of the framework
are preserved through theory change. The kinematics and dynamics of these
self-subsisting structures are technically implemented using the theoretical
framework of Pure Shape Dynamics, which provides a completely relational
physical description of a system in terms of the intrinsic geometry of a
suitably defined space called shape space.
