Spacetime Substantivalism and Einstein’s Cosmological Constant
Philosophy of Science 72 (5):1299-1311 (2005)
Abstract
I offer a novel argument for spacetime substantivalism: We should take the spacetime of general relativity to be a substance because of its active role in gravitational causation. As a clear example of this causal behavior I offer the cosmological constant, a term in the most general form of the Einstein field equations which causes free floating objects to accelerate apart. This acceleration cannot, I claim, be causally explained except by reference to spacetime itself.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1086/508968
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Citations of this work
Functional Gravitational Energy.James Read - 2018 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (1):205-232.
A new approach to the relational‐substantival debate.Jill North - 2018 - Oxford Studies in Metaphysics 11:3-43.
Metaphysics of causation and physics of general relativity.Vincent Lam - 2010 - Humana Mente 4 (13):61-80.
References found in this work
Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity.Steven Weinberg - 1972 - New York: Wiley.
What price spacetime substantivalism? The hole story.John Earman & John Norton - 1987 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (4):515-525.
The metaphysics of space‐time substantivalism.Carl Hoefer - 1996 - Journal of Philosophy 93 (1):5-27.