General Covariance, Gauge Theories and the Kretschmann Objection.

Norton, John D. (2001) General Covariance, Gauge Theories and the Kretschmann Objection..

Abstract

How can we reconcile two claims that are now both widely accepted: Kretschmann's claim that a requirement of general covariance is physically vacuous and the standard view that the general covariance of general relativity expresses the physically important diffeomorphism gauge freedom of general relativity? I urge that both claims can be held without contradiction if we attend to the context in which each is made.