Philosophy of Physics

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Aim and Structure of These Volumes xi

Chapter One
Classical Accounts of Space and Time 1
The Birth of Physics 1
Newton's First Law and Absolute Space 4
Absolute Time and the Persistence of Absolute Space 9
The Metaphysics of Absolute Space and Time 12
Chapter Two
Evidence for Spatial and Temporal Structure 17
Newton's Second Law and the Bucket Experiment 17
Arithmetic, Geometry, and Coordinates 24
The Symmetries of Space and the Leibniz-Clarke Debate 34

Chapter Three
Eliminating Unobservable Structure 47
Absolute Velocity and Galilean Relativity 47
Galilean Space-Time 54

Chapter Four
Special Relativity 67
Special Relativity and Minkowski Space-Time 67
The Twins Paradox 77
Minkowski Straightedge, Minkowski Compass 83
Constructing Lorentz Coordinates 87

Chapter Five
The Physics of Measurement 106
The Clock Hypothesis 106
Abstract Boosts and Physical Boosts 114
The "Constancy of the Speed of Light" 120
Deeper Accounts of Physical Principles 124

Chapter Six
General Relativity 126
Curved Space and Curved Space-Time 126
Geometrizing Away Gravity 131
Black Holes and the Big Bang 140
The Hole Argument 146
Suggested Readings on General Relativity 152

Chapter Seven
The Direction and Topology of Time 153
The Geometry of Time 153
Time Travel as a Technical Problem 162
The Direction of Time 165


Appendix: Some Problems in Special Relativistic Physics 171
References 177
Index 181