Ebook: Reflections on Spacetime: Foundations, Philosophy, History

REFLECTIONS ON SPACETIME - FOUNDATIONS, PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY During the academic year 1992/93, an interdisciplinary research group constituted itself at the Zentrum fUr interdisziplinare Forschung (ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany, under the title 'Semantical Aspects of Spacetime Theories', in which philosophers and physicists worked on topics in the interpretation and history of relativity theory. The present issue consists of contributions resulting from material presented and discussed in the group during the course of that year. The scope of the papers ranges from rather specialised issues arising from general relativity such as the problem of referential indeterminacy, to foundational questions regarding spacetime in the work of Carnap, Weyl and Hilbert. It is well known that the General Theory of Relativity (GTR) admits spacetime models which are 'exotic' in the sense that observers could travel into their own past. This poses a number of problems for the physical interpretation of GTR which are also relevant in the philosophy of spacetime. It is not enough to exclude these exotic models simply by stating that we live in a non-exotic universe, because it might be possible to "operate time machines" by actively changing the topology of the future part of spacetime. In his contribution, Earman first reviews the attempts of physicists to prove "chronology protection theorems" (CPTs) which exclude the operation of time machines under reasonable assumptions.

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This book presents a collection of research papers, written by physicists, philosophers and historians of science who had participated in the Zentrum f?r interdisziplin?re Forschung (ZiF) during the academic year 1992/93 in order to discuss the nature and structure of spacetime as it is used in general relativity. All contributions focus on unsolved questions, such as the possibility of time machines, referential indeterminacy, the hole problem, and the conventional vs. empirical character of spacetime. These papers having a more historical colour deal with Einstein's view of general covariance and with the epistemological status of space(time) in the works of Carnap, Weyl and Hilbert, all of whom relate their position to Husserl's phenomenology, yet in fundamentally different ways.

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This book presents a collection of research papers, written by physicists, philosophers and historians of science who had participated in the Zentrum f?r interdisziplin?re Forschung (ZiF) during the academic year 1992/93 in order to discuss the nature and structure of spacetime as it is used in general relativity. All contributions focus on unsolved questions, such as the possibility of time machines, referential indeterminacy, the hole problem, and the conventional vs. empirical character of spacetime. These papers having a more historical colour deal with Einstein's view of general covariance and with the epistemological status of space(time) in the works of Carnap, Weyl and Hilbert, all of whom relate their position to Husserl's phenomenology, yet in fundamentally different ways.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-3
Outlawing Time Machines: Chronology Protection Theorems....Pages 5-19
A New Semantics for the Epistemology of Geometry I: Modeling Spacetime Structure....Pages 21-40
A New Semantics for the Epistemology of Geometry II: Epistemological Completeness of Newton—Galilei and Einstein—Maxwell Theory....Pages 41-69
A Minimal Interpretation of General Relativistic Spacetime Geometry....Pages 71-82
Science without Reference?....Pages 83-102
Did Einstein Stumble? The Debate Over General Covariance....Pages 103-125
Carnap and Weyl on the Foundations of Geometry and Relativity Theory....Pages 127-140
Geometry, Intuition and Experience: From Kant to Husserl....Pages 141-165

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This book presents a collection of research papers, written by physicists, philosophers and historians of science who had participated in the Zentrum f?r interdisziplin?re Forschung (ZiF) during the academic year 1992/93 in order to discuss the nature and structure of spacetime as it is used in general relativity. All contributions focus on unsolved questions, such as the possibility of time machines, referential indeterminacy, the hole problem, and the conventional vs. empirical character of spacetime. These papers having a more historical colour deal with Einstein's view of general covariance and with the epistemological status of space(time) in the works of Carnap, Weyl and Hilbert, all of whom relate their position to Husserl's phenomenology, yet in fundamentally different ways.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-3
Outlawing Time Machines: Chronology Protection Theorems....Pages 5-19
A New Semantics for the Epistemology of Geometry I: Modeling Spacetime Structure....Pages 21-40
A New Semantics for the Epistemology of Geometry II: Epistemological Completeness of Newton—Galilei and Einstein—Maxwell Theory....Pages 41-69
A Minimal Interpretation of General Relativistic Spacetime Geometry....Pages 71-82
Science without Reference?....Pages 83-102
Did Einstein Stumble? The Debate Over General Covariance....Pages 103-125
Carnap and Weyl on the Foundations of Geometry and Relativity Theory....Pages 127-140
Geometry, Intuition and Experience: From Kant to Husserl....Pages 141-165
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