
arXiv: 1302.1686
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.
gr-qc, Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics, History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph), FOS: Physical sciences, physics.hist-ph, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc., General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
gr-qc, Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics, History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph), FOS: Physical sciences, physics.hist-ph, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc., General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
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| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
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