Abstract
Much of Essler's work has been devoted to bringing science andphilosophy together for the purpose of conceptual clarification. Oneparticularly interesting area for such cooperation between science andphilosophy has been relativity theory. In this paper I will consider oneinstance of such interplay: the transformation that our notions of rotationand rigidity have undergone in general relativity and what this process canteach us. I will start by saying a little about the physics of the situation andthen go on to some philosophical observations about meaning and theory.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Barreda, M. and Olivert, J.: 1996, 'Rigid Motions Relative to an Observer: L-Rigidity', International Journal of Theoretical Physics 35, 1511-1522.
Bel, L., Martin, J. and Molina, A.: 1994, 'Rigid Motion in Special and General Relativity', Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 63, 4350-4363.
Bona, C.: 1983, 'Rigid Motion Conditions in Special Relativity', Physical Review D 27, 1243-1247.
Føllesdal, D.: 1979, 'Handlungen, ihre Gründe und Ursachen', in H. Lenk (ed.), Handlungstheorien-interdisziplinär, Fink, München, pp. 431-444.
Føllesdal, D.: 1986, 'Reference and Sense', in V. Cauchy (ed.), Philosophy and Culture (Proceedings of the XVIIth World Congress of Philosophy, Montreal, 21-27 August 1983) Editions du Beffroi, Editions Montmorency, Montreal, pp. 229-239.
Føllesdal, D.: 1994, 'Individuation', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume LXVIII, 131-148.
Friedman, M.: 1999, Reconsidering Logical Positivism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Guldberg, A.: 1913, Verzeichnis über den wissenschaftlichen Nachlass von Sophus Lie, zweite Mitteilung, Norwegian Academy of Science.
Malament, D.: (forthcoming), 'On Relative Orbital Rotation in General Relativity', in a Festchrift for John Stachel (in press).
Miller, A. C.: 1981, Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Rizzi, A.: 1998, 'Angular Momentum in General Relativity: A New Definition', Physical Review Letters 81, 1150-1153.
Stein, H.: 1977, 'Some Philosophical Prehistory of General Relativity', in J. S. Earman, C. N. Glymour and J. J. Stachel, (eds.), Foundations of Space-Time Theories, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 3-49
Størmer, C.: 1902, Verzeichnis über den wissenschaftlichen Nachlass von Sophus Lie, Erste Mitteilung, Norwegian Academy of Science.
Suppes, P., Krantz, D. H., Luce, R. D. and Tversky, A.: 1989, Foundations of Measurement, Vol. II, Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Føllesdal, D. Relativity, Rotation And Rigidity. Erkenntnis 54, 31–38 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005643500921
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005643500921