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Spacetime Substantivalism and Einstein's Cosmological Constant

Baker, David (2004) Spacetime Substantivalism and Einstein's Cosmological Constant. In: [2004] Philosophy of Science Assoc. 19th Biennial Meeting - PSA2004: Contributed Papers (Austin, TX; 2004) > PSA 2004 Contributed Papers. (In Press)

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    Abstract

    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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    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Keywords: cosmological constant substantivalism relationism
    Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
    Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
    Specific Sciences > Physics
    Conferences and Volumes: [2004] Philosophy of Science Assoc. 19th Biennial Meeting - PSA2004: Contributed Papers (Austin, TX; 2004) > PSA 2004 Contributed Papers
    Depositing User: David Baker
    Date Deposited: 24 Apr 2005
    Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 11:12
    Item ID: 1610
    Public Domain: No
    URI: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/1610

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