TY - CHAP
T1 - The Adolescence of Relativity: Einstein, Minkowski, and the Philosophy of Space and Time
AU - Dieks, D.G.B.J.
N1 - One hundredth anniversary of the publication of Hermann Minkowski's paper "Space and Time" in 1909.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - An often repeated account of the genesis of special relativity tells us that
relativity theorywas to a considerable extent the fruit of an operationalist philosophy
of science. Indeed, Einstein’s 1905 paper stresses the importance of rods and clocks
for giving concrete physical content to spatial and temporal notions. I argue, however,
that it would be a mistake to read too much into this. Einstein’s operationalist
remarks should be seen as serving rhetoric purposes rather than as attempts to promulgate
a particular philosophical position – in fact, Einstein never came close to
operationalism in any of his philosophical writings. By focussing on what could actually
be measured with rods and clocks Einstein shed doubt on the empirical status
of a number of pre-relativistic concepts, with the intention to persuade his readers
that the applicability of these concepts was not obvious. This rhetoric manoeuvre
has not always been rightly appreciated in the philosophy of physics. Thus, the
influence of operationalist misinterpretations, according to which associated operations
strictly define what a conceptmeans, can still be felt in present-day discussions
about the conventionality of simultaneity.
The standard story continues by pointing out that Minkowski in 1908 supplanted
Einstein’s approach with a realist spacetime account that has no room for
a foundational role of rods and clocks: relativity theory became a description of a
four-dimensional “absolute world.” As it turns out, however, it is not at all clear that
Minkowski was proposing a substantivalist position with respect to spacetime. On
the contrary, it seems that from a philosophical point of view Minkowski’s general
position was not very unlike the one in the back of Einstein’s mind. However, in
Minkowski’s formulation of special relativity it becomes more explicit that the content
of spatiotemporal concepts relates to considerations about the form of physical
laws. If accepted, this position has important consequences for the discussion about
the conventionality of simultaneity.
AB - An often repeated account of the genesis of special relativity tells us that
relativity theorywas to a considerable extent the fruit of an operationalist philosophy
of science. Indeed, Einstein’s 1905 paper stresses the importance of rods and clocks
for giving concrete physical content to spatial and temporal notions. I argue, however,
that it would be a mistake to read too much into this. Einstein’s operationalist
remarks should be seen as serving rhetoric purposes rather than as attempts to promulgate
a particular philosophical position – in fact, Einstein never came close to
operationalism in any of his philosophical writings. By focussing on what could actually
be measured with rods and clocks Einstein shed doubt on the empirical status
of a number of pre-relativistic concepts, with the intention to persuade his readers
that the applicability of these concepts was not obvious. This rhetoric manoeuvre
has not always been rightly appreciated in the philosophy of physics. Thus, the
influence of operationalist misinterpretations, according to which associated operations
strictly define what a conceptmeans, can still be felt in present-day discussions
about the conventionality of simultaneity.
The standard story continues by pointing out that Minkowski in 1908 supplanted
Einstein’s approach with a realist spacetime account that has no room for
a foundational role of rods and clocks: relativity theory became a description of a
four-dimensional “absolute world.” As it turns out, however, it is not at all clear that
Minkowski was proposing a substantivalist position with respect to spacetime. On
the contrary, it seems that from a philosophical point of view Minkowski’s general
position was not very unlike the one in the back of Einstein’s mind. However, in
Minkowski’s formulation of special relativity it becomes more explicit that the content
of spatiotemporal concepts relates to considerations about the form of physical
laws. If accepted, this position has important consequences for the discussion about
the conventionality of simultaneity.
U2 - 10.1007/978-90-481-3475-5_9
DO - 10.1007/978-90-481-3475-5_9
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-90-481-3474-8
T3 - Fundamental theories of physics
SP - 225
EP - 245
BT - Minkowski Spacetime: a hundred years later
A2 - Petkov, Vesselin
PB - Springer
CY - Dordrecht [etc.]
T2 - One hundredth anniversary of the publication of Hermann Minkowski's paper "Space and Time" in 1909.
Y2 - 1 January 2010
ER -