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Geodesic Universality in General Relativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Michael Tamir
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Abstract

According to recent arguments, the geodesic principle strictly interpreted is compatible with Einstein’s field equations only in pathologically unstable circumstances and, hence, cannot play a fundamental role in the theory. It is shown here that geodesic dynamics can still be coherently reinterpreted within contemporary relativity theory as a universality thesis. By developing an analysis of universality in physics, I argue that the widespread geodesic clustering of diverse free-fall massive bodies observed in nature qualifies as a universality phenomenon. I then show how this near-geodetic clustering can be explained despite the pathologies associated with strict geodesic motion in Einstein’s theory.

Type
General Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 80 , Issue 5 , December 2013 , pp. 1076 - 1088
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Thanks to John Norton, Robert Batterman, and Balázs Gyenis for many helpful conversations.

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