Minkowski space-time: a glorious non-entity

Details Minkowski space-time: a glorious non-entity Minkowski space-time: a glorious non-entity

2004-03-17

arxiv.org/abs/physics/0403088v1

Physics

History and Philosophy of Physics

18 pages, written for Petkov (ed.), The Ontology of Spacetime (in preparation)

Scientific paper

Einstein distinguished between ``principle'' and ``constructive'' theories in physics, and although he thought the latter were more explanatory than the former, he regarded his 1905 formulation of special relativity theory as a principle theory. Some have claimed that Minkowski space-time can serve as the deep structure within a constructive reformulation of special relativity. We criticise this claim, and argue that a satisfactory constructive version of special relativity must involve a dynamical treatment of the forces holding together the constitutive parts of moving rods and clocks.

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