Spacetime Substantivalism and Einstein's Cosmological Constant.
I offer a novel argument for spacetime substantivalism: We should take the spacetime of general relativity to be a substance because of its active role in gravitational causation. As a clear example of this causal behavior I offer the cosmological constant, a term in the most general form of the Ein...
| Publicado en: | Philosophy of Science Vol. 72; no. 5; pp. 1299 - 1312 |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
Dec2005
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | I offer a novel argument for spacetime substantivalism: We should take the spacetime of general relativity to be a substance because of its active role in gravitational causation. As a clear example of this causal behavior I offer the cosmological constant, a term in the most general form of the Einstein field equations which causes free floating objects to accelerate apart. This acceleration cannot, I claim, be causally explained except by reference to spacetime itself. |
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