Space, Time, and Geometry (Synthese Library, 56)

The articles in this volume have been stimulated in two different ways. More than two years ago the editor of Synthese, laakko Hintikka, an­ nounced a special issue devoted to space and time, and articles were solicited. Part of the reason for that announcement was also the second source of papers. Several years ago I gave a seminar on special relativity at Stanford, and the papers by Domotor, Harrison, Hudgin, Latzer and myself partially arose out of discussion in that seminar. All of the papers except those of Griinbaum, Fine, the second paper of Friedman, and the paper of Adams appeared in a special double issue of Synthese (24 (1972), Nos. 1-2). I am pleased to have been able to add the four additional papers mentioned in making the special issue a volume in the Synthese Library. Of these four additional articles, only the one by Fine has pre­ viously appeared in print (Synthese 22 (1971),448--481); its relevance to the present volume is apparent. In preparing the papers for publication and in carrying out the various editorIal chores of such a task, I am very much indebted to Mrs. Lillian O'Toole for her extensive assistance. INTRODUCTION The philosophy of space and time has been of permanent importance in philosophy, and most of the major historical figures in philosophy, such as Aristotle, Descartes and Kant, have had a good deal to say about the nature of space and time. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Causal Models and Space-Time Geometries....Pages 3-55 Temporally Symmetric Causal Relations in Minkowski Space-Time....Pages 56-71 Notes on the Causal Theory of Time....Pages 72-84 Earman on the Causal Theory of Time....Pages 85-93 Kant’s Formulation of the Laws of Motion....Pages 94-114 On Travelling Backward in Time....Pages 115-130 The Flow of Time....Pages 131-156 Front Matter....Pages 157-157 Poincaré’s Philosophy of Space....Pages 159-177 On the Structure of Space-Time....Pages 178-192 Topology, Cosmology and Convention....Pages 193-216 Grünbaum on the Conventionality of Geometry....Pages 217-233 Reflections on a Relational Theory of Space....Pages 234-267 The Ontology of the Curvature of Empty Space in the Geometrodynamics of Clifford and Wheeler....Pages 268-295 Relativity Principles, Absolute Objects and Symmetry Groups....Pages 296-320 Nondirected Light Signals and the Structure of Time....Pages 321-365 Coordinate-Free Relativity....Pages 366-382 Some Open Problems in the Philosophy of Space and Time....Pages 383-401 The Naive Conception of the Topology of the Surface of a Body....Pages 402-424 Back Matter....Pages 425-428