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Constructing or Completing Physical Geometry? On the Relation between Theory and Evidence in Accounts of Space-Time Structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Martin Carrier
Martin Carrier*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Konstanz
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the relation between the observation basis and the theoretical principles of General Relativity. More specifically, this relation is analyzed with respect to constructive axiomatizations of the observation basis of space-time theories, on the one hand, and in attempts to complete them, on the other. The two approaches exclude one another so that a choice between them is necessary. I argue that the completeness approach is preferable for methodological reasons.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 369 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I wish to acknowledge the benefits of discussions with my colleague Claus Lämmerzahl (University of Konstanz) about the physical aspects of the problems addressed in this paper.

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