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Unified Field Theory and the Conventionality of Geometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Itamar Pitowsky*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Brown University

Abstract

The existence of fields besides gravitation may provide us with a way to decide empirically whether spacetime is really a nonflat Riemannian manifold or a flat Minkowskian manifold that appears curved as a result of gravitational distortions. This idea is explained using a modification of Poincaré's famous ‘diskworld’.

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1984

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References

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