If a particular method (retaining or eliminating symmetries) were shown to be successful in the quest for quantizing gravity, that method's associated ontology would be scientifically supported.
Scientific support (or empirical support)(as used in philosophy of science)
When evidence from experiments or observations backs up a theory and makes it more believable.
Symmetries (in physics)(as used in theoretical physics)
In physics, these are properties or transformations that stay the same or unchanged under certain conditions—scientists use them to write elegant laws of nature.
One area that philosophers might profit from is in the investigation of the relational observables that appear to be necessitated by diffeomorphism invariance. For example, since symmetries (such as the gauge symmetries associated with the constraints) come with quite a lot of metaphysical baggage attached (as philosophers of physics know from the hole argument), such a move involves philosophically weighty assumptions. For example, the presence of symmetries in a theory would appear to allow