Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:41:22.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why General Relativity Does Need an Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Gordon Belot
Gordon Belot*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a widespread impression that General Relativity, unlike Quantum Mechanics, is in no need of an interpretation. I present two reasons for thinking that this is a mistake. The first is the familiar hole argument. I argue that certain skeptical responses to this argument are too hasty in dismissing it as being irrelevant to the interpretative enterprise. My second reason is that interpretative questions about General Relativity are central to the search for a quantum theory of gravity. I illustrate this claim by examining the interpretative consequences of a particular technical move in canonical quantum gravity.

Type
Space-time Issues
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 63 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1996 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 1996. , 1996 , pp. S80 - S88
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I would like to thank John Earman and Carlo Rovelli for many helpful conversations concerning the interpretative problems of quantum gravity. I would also like to acknowledge the generous support of SSHRC.

‡

Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.

References

Barbour, J. (1994), “The Timelessness of Quantum Gravity: I. The Evidence from the Classical Theory”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 11: 2853–2873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbour, J. and Bertotti, B. (1982), “Mach's Principle and the Structure of Dynamical Theories”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A 382: 295–306.Google Scholar
Beig, R. (1994), “The Classical Theory of Canonical General Relativity”, in Ehlers, J. and Freidrich, H. (eds.), Canonical Gravity: From Classical to Quantum. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 59–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belot, G. (1995), “Determinism and Ontology”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 9: 85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brighouse, C. (1994), “Spacetime and Holes”, in Hull, D., Forbes, M. and Burian, R. M. (eds.), PSA 1994, Vol. 1. East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association, pp. 117–125.Google Scholar
Butterfield, J. (1989), “The Hole Truth”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40: 1–28.10.1093/bjps/40.1.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, T. Y. (1988), “Gauge Theory and the Geometrization of Fundamental Physics”, in Brown, H. R. and Harré, R. (eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 117–133.Google Scholar
Carlip, S. (1990), “Observables, Gauge Invariance, and Time in (2+ l)-Dimensional Quantum Gravity”, Physical Review D 42: 2647–2654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlip, S. (1994), “Notes on the (2+ 1)-Dimensional Wheeler-DeWitt Equation”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 11: 31–39.10.1088/0264-9381/11/1/007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earman, J. and Norton, J. (1987), “What Price Spacetime Substantivalism? The Hole Story”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38: 515–525.10.1093/bjps/38.4.515CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efroimsky, M. and Lazarian, A. (1993), “What is Observable in the Perturbative Approach to Gravity”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 10: 2723–2727.Google Scholar
Healey, R. (1995), “Substance, Modality and Spacetime”, Erkenntnis 42: 287–316.Google Scholar
Henneaux, M. and Teitelboim, C. (1992), Quantization of Gauge Systems. Princeton: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9780691213866CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. B. (1993), “Interpreting Gauge Symmetries: a Proposed Solution to the Problem of Gauge Invariance.” Unpublished.Google Scholar
Kuchar, K. (1992), “Time and Interpretations of Quantum Gravity”, in Kunsatter, G., Vincent, D., and Williams, J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 4th Canadian Conference on General Relativity and Astrophysics. Singapore: World Scientific, pp. 211–314.Google Scholar
Leeds, S. (1995), “Holes and Determinism: Another Look”, Philosophy of Science 62: 425–437.10.1086/289876CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynden-Bell, D. (1995), “A Relative Newtonian Mechanics”, in Barbour, J. and Pfister, H. (eds.), Mach's Principle: From Newton's Bucket to Quantum Gravity. Boston: Birkhäuser, pp: 172–178.Google Scholar
Maudlin, T. (1990), “Substances and Space-Time: What Aristotle Would Have Said to Einstein”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 21: 531–561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mundy, R. (1992), “Space-Time and Isomorphism”, in Hull, D., Forbes, M. and Okruhlik, K. (eds.), PSA 1992, Vol. 1. East Lansing, Michigan: Philosophy of Science Association, pp. 515–527.Google Scholar
Rovelli, C. (1991), “What is Observable in Classical and Quantum Gravity”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 8: 297–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rynasiewicz, R. (1994), “The Lessons of the Hole Argument”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45: 407–436.10.1093/bjps/45.2.407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smolin, L. (1991), “Space and Time in the Quantum Universe”, in Ashtekar, A. and Stachel, J. (eds.), Conceptual Problems of Quantum Gravity. Boston: Birkhäuser, pp. 228–291.Google Scholar
Torre, C. G. (1993), “Gravitational Observables and Local Symmetries”, Physical Review D 48: R2373–R2376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, M. (1993), “There's a Hole and a Bucket, Dear Leibniz”, in French, P. A., Uehling, T. E. and Wettstein, H. K. (eds.), Philosophy of Science. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 202–241.Google Scholar