Abstract
The role that conventionality plays in the standard definition of simultaneity in the special theory of relativity has been the subject of much debate. I should like to review certain aspects of that debate, and suggest an analogy between an argument thought by many to show the nonconventionality of standard synchrony and an earlier argument that was not generally thought to be damaging to the conventionalist point of view.
My thinking about the general subject of this essay has benefited greatly from many conversation with Adolf Grünbaum and Salmon; any errors, however, are original with me. It is a particular pleasure to dedicate this essay with admiration and affection, to Adolf Grünbaum in honor of his 60th birthday.
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References
Einstein, A. 1905. ‘Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper,’ Annalen der Physik 17, 891–921. English translation in The Principle of Relativity, pp. 35–65. New York: Dover, 1952.
Grünbaum, A. 1973. Philosophical Problems of Space and Time. 2nd enlarged ed. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 12. Dordrecht, Boston: D. Reidel.
Malament, D. 1977. ‘Causal Theories of Time and the Conventionality of Simultaneity,’ Noûs 11, 293–300.
Reichenbach, H. 1958. The Philosophy of Space and Time. New York: Dover.
Salmon, W. 1977. ‘The Philosophical Significance of the One-Way Speed of Light,’ Noûs 11, 253–292.
Scribner, C. 1963. ‘Mistranslation of a Passage in Einstein’s Original Paper on Relativity,’ American Journal of Physics 31, 398.
Spirtes, P. 1981. ‘Conventionalism and the Philosophy of Henri Poincaré.’ Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company
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Janis, A.I. (1983). Simultaneity and Conventionality. In: Cohen, R.S., Laudan, L. (eds) Physics, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 76. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7055-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7055-7_5
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