The ontology of spacetime

Author(s)

• International Conference on the Ontology of Spacetime
• Dieks, Dennis Geert Bernardus Johan

Bibliographic Information

The ontology of spacetime

edited by Dennis Dieks

（Philosophy and foundations of physics, v. 1, 4）

Elsevier, 2006-

1st ed

• [1]
• 2

Note

First conference held at Montréal, 2004; second conferece in 2006

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

[1] ISBN 9780444527684

Description

This book contains selected papers from the First International Conference on the Ontology of Spacetime. Its fourteen chapters address two main questions: first, what is the current status of the substantivalism/relationalism debate, and second, what about the prospects of presentism and becoming within present-day physics and its philosophy? The overall tenor of the four chapters of the book's first part is that the prospects of spacetime substantivalism are bleak, although different possible positions remain with respect to the ontological status of spacetime. Part II and Part III of the book are devoted to presentism, eternalism, and becoming, from two different perspectives. In the six chapters of Part II it is argued, in different ways, that relativity theory does not have essential consequences for these issues. It certainly is true that the structure of time is different, according to relativity theory, from the one in classical theory. But that does not mean that a decision is forced between presentism and eternalism, or that becoming has proved to be an impossible concept. It may even be asked whether presentism and eternalism really offer different ontological perspectives at all. The writers of the last four chapters, in Part III, disagree. They argue that relativity theory is incompatible with becoming and presentism. Several of them come up with proposals to go beyond relativity, in order to restore the prospects of presentism.

Table of Contents

Introduction (D. Dieks) 1. The Implications of General Covariance for the Ontology and Ideology of Spacetime (J. Earman) 2. The Disappearance of Space and Time (C. Rovelli) 3. Spacetime Structuralism (J. Bain) 4. Minkowski Space-Time: A Glorious Non-Entity (H.R. Brown and O. Pooley) 5. The Irrelavance of the Presentist/Eternalist Debate for the Ontology of Minkowski Spacetime (M. Dorato) 6. Presentism and Eternalism in Perspective (S.F. Savitt) 7. Minkowski Spacetime and the Dimensions of the Present (R.T.W. Arthur) 8. Becoming, Relativity and Locality (D. Dieks) 9. Relativity Theory and the Tenseless/Tensed Debate (Y. Dolev) 10. Philosophical Consequences of the Twins Paradox (S. McCall) 11. Is There an Alternative to the Block Universe View? (V. Petkov) 12. Special Relativity, Time, Probabilism, and Ultimate Reality (N. Maxwell) 13. Temporal Presentness and the Dynamics of Spacetime (K.A. Peacock) 14. Presentism and Quantum Gravity (B. Monton)

Volume

2 ISBN 9780444532756

Description

The sixteen papers collected in this volume are expanded and revised versions of talks delivered at the Second International Conference on the Ontology of Spacetime, organized by the International Society for the Advanced Study of Spacetime (John Earman, President) at Concordia University (Montreal) from 9 to 11 June 2006. Most chapters are devoted to subjects directly relating to the ontology of spacetime. The book starts with four papers that discuss the ontological status of spacetime and the processes occurring in it from a point of view that is first of all conceptual and philosophical. The focus then slightly shifts in the five papers that follow, to considerations more directly involving technical considerations from relativity theory. After this, Time, Becoming and Change take centre stage in the next five papers. The book ends with two excursions into relatively uncharted territory: a consideration of the status of Kaluza-Klein theory, and an investigation of possible relations between the nature of spacetime and condensed matter physics, respectively.

Table of Contents

1. A Trope-Bundle Ontology for Field-Theory, A. Wayne 2. Is Structural Realism Relationism in Disguise? The Supererogatory Nature of the Substantivalism/Relationism Debate, M. Dorato 3. Identity, Spacetime and Cosmology, J. Faye 4. Persistence and Multilocation in Spacetime, Yu. Balashov 5. Is Spacetime a Gravitational Field?, D. Lehmkuhl 6. Structural Aspects of the Singular Features of Space-Time, V. Lam 7. Who's Afraid of Background Independence?, D. Rickles 8. Understanding Indeterminism, C. Brighouse 9. Conventionality of Simultaneity and Reality, V. Petkov 10. Pruning Some Branches from Branching Spacetimes, J. Earman 11. Time Lapse and the Degeneracy of Time: Goedel, Proper Time and Becoming in Relativity Theory, R.T.W. Arthur 12. On Temporal Becoming, Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics, T. Bigaj 13. Relativity, the Passage of Time and the Cosmic Clock, P. Forrest 14. Time and Relation in Relativity and Quantum Gravity, A. de Saint-Ours 15. Mechanisms of Unification in Kaluza-Klein Theory, I. Muntean 16. Condensed Matter Physics and the Nature of Spacetime, J. Bain

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA79048503
• ISBN:
  • 9780444527684
  • 9780444532756
• LCCN: 2006046359
• Country Code: ne
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Amsterdam ; Tokyo
• Pages/Volumes: v.
• Size: 25 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : QC173.59.S65
  • DC22 : 530.11
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Space and time -- Congresses
  • LCSH : Ontology -- Congresses
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA79048387