Dürr, Patrick (2015) The Meaning of Relativity and the Liberation of the Relationalists. [Preprint]

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Abstract

We analyse the various conceptual notions that go under the umbrella “relationalism/substantivalism”. Our focus will be on evaluating the ontological status of spacetime in General Relativity (GR). To this end we systematically develop the ontological framework that implicitly underlies the traditional debate and common understanding of (classical) physics. We submit that spacetime with its chronogeometric and inertial structure, represented by the triple of the bare manifold, the metric and the affine structure, is best construed as the totality of possible and actual spatiotemporal relations of events. This can explain the non-fundamentality of general relativistic gravitational energy and suggests a non-causal, non-interactional understanding of the interdependence of matter in spacetime in GR.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Dürr, Patrick patrick-duerr@gmx.de
Keywords:	Relationalism/substantivalism, General Relativity, Gravitational Waves, Analytic Ontology, Gravitational Energy, Action-Backreaction Principle
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Depositing User:	Mr. Patrick M. Duerr
Date Deposited:	18 Jan 2016 23:32
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2016 23:32
Item ID:	11867
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Date:	2015
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11867

Available Versions of this Item

• The Meaning of Relativity and the Liberation of the Relationalists. (deposited 05 Jan 2016 18:54)
  • The Meaning of Relativity and the Liberation of the Relationalists. (deposited 18 Jan 2016 23:32) [Currently Displayed]

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