The Geometry of Conventionality

Abstract

There is a venerable position in the philosophy of space and time that holds that the geometry of spacetime is conventional, provided one is willing to postulate a "universal force field". Here we ask a more focused question, inspired by this literature: in the context of our best classical theories of space and time, if one understands "force" in the standard way, can one accommodate different geometries by postulating a new force field? We argue that the answer depends on one's theory. In Newtonian gravitation the answer is "yes"; in relativity theory, it is "no".

17 pages, 1 figure, forthcoming in Philosophy of Science

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Space-time Philosophy Reconstructed via Massive Nordström Scalar Gravities? Laws vs. Geometry, Conventionality, and Underdetermination
• On Gravitational Energy in Newtonian Theories
• Would Two Dimensions be World Enough for Spacetime?
• Maxwell-Huygens, Newton-Cartan, and Saunders-Knox Spacetimes
• Are Newtonian Gravitation and Geometrized Newtonian Gravitation Theoretically Equivalent?
• Conventionalism in general relativity?: formal existence proofs and Reichenbach's theorem θ in context