Relationism Rehabilitated? I: Classical Mechanics

Pooley, Oliver and Brown, Harvey R. (2001) Relationism Rehabilitated? I: Classical Mechanics.

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Abstract

The implications for the substantivalist--relationist controversy of Barbour and Bertotti's successful implementation of a Machian approach to dynamics are investigated. It is argued that in the context of Newtonian mechanics the Machian framework provides a genuinely relational interpretation of dynamics and that it is more explanatory than the conventional, substantival interpretation. In a companion paper (Pooley 2001), the implications of the Machian approach for the interpretation of relativistic physics are explored.

Keywords:Machianism, relationism, space, spacetime, space-time, substantivalism, absolutism, Barbour, Belot
Subjects:Specific Sciences: Physics: Classical Physics
ID Code:220
Deposited By:Pooley, Oliver
Deposited On:10 April 2001