Foundations of Physics 40 (9-10):1285-1297 (2001)
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Abstract |
In 1977, David Malament proved the valuable technical result that the simultaneity relation of standard synchrony $\epsilon=\frac{1}{2}$ with respect to an inertial observer O is uniquely definable in terms of the relation κ of causal connectibility. And he claimed that this definability undermines my own version of the conventionality of metrical simultaneity within an inertial frame.But Malament’s proof depends on the imposition of several supposedly “innocuous” constraints on any candidate for the simultaneity relation relative to O. Relying on Allen I. Janis’s 1983 challenge to one of these constraints, I argue that Malament’s technical result did not undermine my philosophical construal of the ontological status of relative metrical simultaneity. Furthermore, I show that (a) Michael Friedman’s peremptorily substantivalist critique of my conception, which Malament endorses, is ill-founded, and (b) if Malament had succeeded in discrediting my own conventionalist version of metrical simultaneity, he would likewise have invalidated Einstein’s pioneering version of it
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Keywords | Conventionality of simultaneity Einstein’s special relativity |
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Reprint years | 2010 |
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DOI | 10.1007/s10701-009-9328-3 |
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References found in this work BETA
Autobiographical Notes.Max Black, Albert Einstein & Paul Arthur Schilpp - 1950 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 15 (2):157.
On Relativity Theory and Openness of the Future.Howard Stein - 1991 - Philosophy of Science 58 (2):147-167.
Causal Theories of Time and the Conventionality of Simultaneity.David Malament - 1977 - Noûs 11 (3):293-300.
View all 11 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Time in the Special Theory of Relativity.Steven Savitt & Roberto Torretti - 2011 - In Craig Callender (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time. Oxford University Press. pp. 546--570.
What Can We Learn About the Ontology of Space and Time From the Theory of Relativity?John D. Norton - 2000
Simultaneity, Convention, and Gauge Freedom.Robert Rynasiewicz - 2012 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 43 (2):90-94.
Causality and Temporal Order in Special Relativity.Hanoch Ben-Yami - 2006 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57 (3):459-479.
View all 10 citations / Add more citations
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