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http://dx.doi.org/10.14477/jhm.2015.28.4.181

Space-Time Symmetry and Space-Time Ontology  

Yang, Kyoung-Eun (Korea National Univ. of Edu.)
Publication Information
Journal for History of Mathematics / v.28, no.4, 2015 , pp. 181-190 More about this Journal
Abstract
In spite of various attempts to characterize the ontological status of space-time, Newtonian substantivalism and Leibnizian relationism, what is really at issue in the controversy between the two parties is by no means clear. This essay argues that from the perspective of space-time symmetries, classical space-time can be unambiguously classified as substantival space-time and relational space-time. The symmetries of space-time theories distinguish the invariant geometric relationships between events. The essential difference between the two space-times stems from whether or not there exists the affine structure that distinguishes the inertial trajectories of a given body.
Keywords
the ontological status of space-time; substantivalism; relationalism; space-time symmetries;
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