Maxwell-Huygens, Newton-Cartan, and Saunders-Knox Space-Times
@article{Weatherall2016MaxwellHuygensNA, title={Maxwell-Huygens, Newton-Cartan, and Saunders-Knox Space-Times}, author={James Owen Weatherall}, journal={Philosophy of Science}, year={2016}, volume={83}, pages={82 - 92} }
I address a question recently raised by Simon Saunders concerning the relationship between the space-time structure of Newton-Cartan theory and that of what I will call “Maxwell-Huygens space-time.” This discussion will also clarify a connection between Saunders’s work and a recent paper by Eleanor Knox.
19 Citations
A brief comment on Maxwell(/Newton)[-Huygens] spacetime
- PhysicsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
- 2018
Maxwell Gravitation
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This article gives an explicit presentation of Newtonian gravitation on the backdrop of Maxwell space-time, giving a sense in which acceleration is relative in gravitational theory. However, caution…
Fundamental and Emergent Geometry in Newtonian Physics
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Using as a starting point recent and apparently incompatible conclusions by Saunders ([2013]) and Knox ([2014]), I revisit the question of the correct spacetime setting for Newtonian physics. I argue…
On Gravitational Energy in Newtonian Theories
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I argue that a criterion of theoretical equivalence due to Glymour (Noûs 11(3):227–251, 1977) does not capture an important sense in which two theories may be equivalent. I then motivate and state an…
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Knox’s inertial spacetime functionalism (and a better alternative)
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Eleanor Knox has argued that our concept of spacetime applies to whichever structure plays a certain functional role in the laws (the role of determining local inertial structure). I raise two…
Who's afraid of coordinate systems? An essay on representation of spacetime structure
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- 2019
Gravitational Energy in Newtonian Gravity: A Response to Dewar and Weatherall
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The paper investigates the status of gravitational energy in Newtonian Gravity (NG), developing upon recent work by Dewar and Weatherall. The latter suggest that gravitational energy is a gauge…
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