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Struggling with Causality: Einstein's Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Yemima Ben-Menahem
Yemima Ben-Menahem
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Abstract

Einstein's concept of causality as analyzed in this paper is a thick concept comprised of: (a) regularity; (b) locality; (c) symmetry considerations leading to conservation laws; (d) mutuality of causal interaction. The main theses are: 1. Since (b)–(d) are not elements of Hume's concept of causality, Einstein's concept, the concept embedded in the theory of relativity, is manifestly non–Humean. 2. On a Humean conception, Newtonian mechanics is a paradigmatically causal theory. Einstein, however, regarded this theory as causally deficient, for it fails to comply with both (b) and (d). Special relativity was (partly) motivated by the wish to correct the first of these failures; general relativity the second. 3. Ironically, general relativity, based on the thick concept of causality, opens the way for a conventionalist understanding of that concept. 4. With regard to human freedom, Einstein professed to be a Spinozist. However, he suggested a version of soft determinism, not found in Spinoza.

Type
The Philosophical Context
Information
Science in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , Spring 1993 , pp. 291 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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