• Korean Journal of Logic
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.171-199
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• 2009

This essay will consider evolutionary views that attempt to capture the continuity of theory-change from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics via the formal aspects of these theories. Although it cannot be denied that the formal aspects such as 'correspondence principles' and 'covariance principles' provide important information concerning this theory-change, these formal properties are not sufficient to capture the essential elements of any evolutionary account of the development of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity from Newtonian mechanics.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.273-292
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• 2009

According to historical commentators such as Newton and Einstein, bodily behaviors are causally explained by the geometrical structure of space-time whose existence analogous to that of material substance. This essay challenges this conventional wisdom of interpreting space-time geometry within both Newtonian and Einsteinian physics. By tracing recent historical studies on the interpretation of space-time geometry, I defends that space-time structure is a by-product of a more fundamental fact, the laws of motion. From this perspective, I will argue that the causal properties of space-time cannot provide an adequate account of the theory-change from Newtoninan to Einsteinian physics.