The origins of the spacetime Metric: Bell’s Lorentzian Pedagogy and its significance in general relativity

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In Craig Callender & Nick Huggett (eds.), Physics Meets Philosophy at the Plank Scale. Cambridge University Press. pp. 256--72 (1999)
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the `Lorentzian Pedagogy' defended by J.S. Bell in his essay ``How to teach special relativity'', and to explore its consistency with Einstein's thinking from 1905 to 1952. Some remarks are also made in this context on Weyl's philosophy of relativity and his 1918 gauge theory. Finally, it is argued that the Lorentzian pedagogy---which stresses the important connection between kinematics and dynamics---clarifies the role of rods and clocks in general relativity.

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Oliver Pooley
University of Oxford
Harvey Brown
Oxford University

Citations of this work

Physical relativity from a functionalist perspective.Eleanor Knox - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 67:118-124.
The Dynamical Approach to Spacetime Theories.Harvey R. Brown & James Read - 2022 - In Eleanor Knox & Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics. London, UK: Routledge.
From Multilevel Explanation to Downward Causation.David Yates - forthcoming - In Alastair Wilson & Katie Robertson (eds.), Levels of Explanation. Oxford University Press.

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References found in this work

Autobiographical Notes.Max Black, Albert Einstein & Paul Arthur Schilpp - 1949 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 15 (2):157.
Geometrie und Erfahrung.Albert Einstein - 1921 - Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Kommission Bei W. De Gruyter.
Relativity and Geometry.R. Torretti - 1985 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 36 (1):100-104.
How to teach special relativity.John S. Bell - 1976 - Progress in Scientific Culture 1.
Mach's principle and the structure of dynamical theories.Julian B. Barbour & Bruno Bertotti - 1982 - Proceedings of the Royal Society, London:295--306.

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