Dust, Time and Symmetry.

Two symmetry arguments are discussed, each purporting to show that there is no more room for a preferred division of spacetime into instants of time in general relativistic cosmology than in Minkowski spacetime. The first argument is due to Gödel, and concerns the symmetries of his famous rotating c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 255 - 292
Main Author: Belot, Gordon
Format: Article
Published: University of Chicago Press Jun2005
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:Two symmetry arguments are discussed, each purporting to show that there is no more room for a preferred division of spacetime into instants of time in general relativistic cosmology than in Minkowski spacetime. The first argument is due to Gödel, and concerns the symmetries of his famous rotating cosmologies. The second turns upon the symmetries of a certain space of relativistic possibilities. Both arguments are found wanting.