The Geometry of Conventionality.
There is a venerable position in the philosophy of space and time that holds that the geometry of spacetime is conventional, provided one is willing to postulate a "universal force field." Here we ask a more focused question, inspired by this literature: in the context of our best classical theories...
| Publicado en: | Philosophy of Science Vol. 81; no. 2; pp. 233 - 248 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
Apr2014
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | There is a venerable position in the philosophy of space and time that holds that the geometry of spacetime is conventional, provided one is willing to postulate a "universal force field." Here we ask a more focused question, inspired by this literature: in the context of our best classical theories of space and time, if one understands "force" in the standard way, can one accommodate different geometries by postulating a new force field? We argue that the answer depends on one's theory. In Newtonian gravitation the answer is yes; in relativity theory, it is no. |
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