Geometrization 3.0: the black hole shadow

Abstract

There have been three geometrizations in history. The first one is historically due to the Pythagorean school and Plato, the second one comes from Galileo, Kepler, Descartes and Newton, and the third geometrization of nature begins with Einstein's general relativity. Here the term geometrization of nature means the conception according to which nature (with its different meanings) is largely described by using geometry. In this article, I focus on the third geometrization, in which the black hole shadow phenomenon relates shape to dynamics. As a consequence, spacetime symmetry could play the role of the formal cause in black hole physics. Spacetime symmetry as formal cause of spacetime could be an interesting point in the kinematics-dynamics debate in the theory of relativity.

25 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Published in Philosophia Scientiae