Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Un-conventional wisdom: theory-specificity in Reichenbach's geometric conventionalism
Section snippets
The standard interpretation and refutation of Reichenbach's geometric conventionalism
The received view of Reichenbach's geometric conventionalism connects the argument from universal forces in Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (Reichenbach, 1928) back to the pre-relativistic discussions of Henri Poincaré.1 Poincaré (1902) argued that all statements concerning physical geometry are necessarily entangled with statements about physical interactions of bodies and this grants us a degree of epistemological freedom in
Friedman and Coffa on the emergence of Reichenbach's conventionalist doctrine
It is pointed out that Reichenbach was not always a geometric conventionalist. Indeed in his first book, he explicitly argues that the use of Riemannian geometry in the general theory of relativity (GTR) undercuts Poincaré's claims of geometric conventionality (Reichenbach, 1920a, p. 4 fn. 1).2
The wissenschaftsanalytische methode
Both Friedman's and Coffa's accounts are based on the supposition that the move to geometric conventionalism signals a foundational change in Reichenbach's approach between 1920 and 1924. While these depictions are both of great importance in shedding light on Reichenbach's intellectual trajectory, they fail to fully note the coherence of his work in that period. If (1920a) is examined in terms of epistemological methodology—his so-called wissenschaftsanalytische Methode—and the limited goal of
Theory-dependence in Reichenbach's early writings
What is striking about Reichenbach's writings between 1920 and 1924, indeed as far forward as 1928, the year of publication of Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre—the supposed hallmark of positivist conventionalism—is the lack of discussions about the conventional nature of physical geometry. Reichenbach's articles on relativity, space, time, and motion in this period are devoted primarily to issues of time, focusing largely on refuting proposed means of determining an absolute non-local
Geometric conventionalism and the general theory of relativity
Reichenbach's geometric conventionalism first appears in (1922a).10 Here we see the notion of universal forces appear as “forces of type X” (forces d’espèce X) in an early version of the well-known argument from empirical underdetermination. But the full context of this discussion is something quite different from the presentation in the standard interpretation.
Reichenbach begins the piece with a discussion of the special theory and absolute simultaneity.
Reichenbach's mature conventionalist doctrine
So what then ought we make of the discussion of universal forces in the opening section of Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre? Certainly, this discussion does not occur in the context of an axiomatic treatment of the GTR and looks clearly to be based upon general concerns of verifiability. Did the view change between 1924 and 1928? It did not.
Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre was a victim of its own success. Its praises are sung by the most notable names in the history of field. In addition to
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