Absolute vs. Relational Theories of Space and Time
{'Code': '08080301', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DBI', 'LongName': 'Div Of Biological Infrastructure'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The time is ripe for significant progress to be made on a cluster of            issues that goes under the label of absolute versus relational                  conceptions of space and time.  We are now in a position to provide a           separation and classification of the issues and to see where linkages           do and do not exist.  In some cases, we can settle an issue, and in             other cases we can say with more precision what the issue is, what is           at stake, and what it would take to bring a resolution.  Professor              Earman under this grant, will show that an empirically adequate                 theory of motion, whether classical or relativistic, must be based on           a space-time structure that is incompatible with a relational                   conception of motion.  He argues, however, that the absolutenes of              motion does not entail absoluteness of space-time in the sense of               substantivalism. He will show the issue of substantivalism, first               raised in the Leibnitz-Clarke correspondence, to be crucial to an               understanding both of the genesis of Einstein's general theory of               relativity and of the foundations of the completed theory.  Further,            he will show that the demand for the possibility of determinism in a            theory like general relativity to force the abandonment of                      substantivalism with respect to the space-time manifold.  In turn,              the abandonment of a manifold of space-time points as a substratum to           support fields leads to a conception of space-time that lies outside            of the ambit of the traditional absolute versus relational debate.
{'FirstName': 'John', 'LastName': 'Earman', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'John Earman', 'EmailAddress': None, 'NSF_ID': '000239998', 'StartDate': '11/15/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Pittsburgh', 'CityName': 'PITTSBURGH', 'ZipCode': '152600001', 'PhoneNumber': '4126247400', 'StreetAddress': '4200 FIFTH AVENUE', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Pennsylvania', 'StateCode': 'PA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '18', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'PA18', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'MKAGLD59JRL1', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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