Introduction to the Philosophy of Space and Time
Let us examine what Einstein thought in the course of his struggle for constructing his two theories of relativity, the special and the general. For any students of the philosophy of space and time, it is a quite rewarding experience to examine Einstein's writings. I have finished, more than a year ago, a book on Einstein and the philosophy of space and time. For some reasons, its publication has been delayed---a publisher accepted the manuscript for publication, but left it more than a year doing nothing; thus I withdrew it. So I decided to publish its PDF version---now containing only 129 figures without text ---on the web, for our students. My lecture will be based on this material, so the students planning to attend this course are required to read this material carefully, and also to consult, if necessary, other references listed on the attached REFERENCES.
For seeing this material, you need a viewer such as Acrobat Reader, which can be easily downloaded.
(In the meantime, another publisher accepted the manuscript for publication; the book appeared in November from Minerva, Kyoto; but all figures will be changed into grey-scale color, and the reader is referred to the original color pictures presented here. Since the book is forthcoming, I have deleted all text from chapter 1 to chapter 6, and only figures are available in the following PDF version.)
『アインシュタインの思考をたどる──時空の哲学入門』ミネルヴァ書房、2004年
Tracing Einstein's Ideas---Introduction to the Philosophy of Space and Time (ENGLISH ABSTRACT)
正誤表
図１８のにように 図１８のように A とL(v)の間で L とL(v)の間で 記述に誤りがあるので段落全体を書き換え ここをクリック 記述に誤りがあるので段落と図を訂正 ここをクリック 図とタイトルが重なっている 図を１行下げ 56. 重力場での空間の曲がり方 100. 重力場での空間の曲がり方 Poincare アクサンテギュを加える
Poincare ... l'Hypothese 前の方にはアクサンテギュ、後の方にはアクサングラーヴを加える
たたことは たことは Grunbaum ウムラウトを加える 本書の第二刷では、最後の四つを除いて修正ずみ。
For Further Studies
We have concentrated on the controversy of absolutism-relationalism in the last chapter. However, the philosophy of space and time have a much wider scope, and we have to take into consideration recent developments in cosmology and various attempts of unified theories, including "superstring theories"; as well as deepening your understanding of general relativity. Here is a brief list of recommended readings:
Alan Guth, The Inflationary Universe, Perseus, 1998. [A very careful and readable presentation of the inflation theories and related matters; Japanese translation available, but Prof. K. Sato should write his own version, comparable to this, I would say!]
Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, Vintage Books, 2000. [If you wish to know what string theories are all about, this is the book you should consult; Japanese translation available. You need skepticism, though!]
Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: space, time and the texture of reality, Allen Lane, 2004. [This time, the author does not begin with string but with a more familiar example: Newton's Bucket. How can we interpret this experiment in terms of classical mechanics, special relativity, and general relativity? Then he goes on to the nature of time, cosmology, and the fabric of the universe according to the superstring theory. The readability and quality is as good as the first book.]
Michio Kaku, Einstein's Cosmos, Atlas Books, Norton, 2004. [Although this book contains no figures, it is quite readable, combining Einstein's biography and physics; part iii is quite useful for seeing the significance of Einstein's "unified field theory" and its connection with superstring theories.]
Wolfgang Rindler, Relativity: special, general and cosmological, Oxford Univ. Press, 2001. [A compact but balanced treatment of relativity and related fields. By the way, Taylor & Wheeler 2000 is now available in Japanese tralslation, Dec. 2004.]
Lee Smolin, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Basic Books, 2001. [Smolin is a leading figure of the loop quantum gravity, an alternative to the superstring theory. This is quite interesting in that he emphasizes the relational point of view in constructing a theory of quantum gravity.]
(Why English books rather than much cheaper and accessible Japanese books by famous or popular authors? BECAUSE such books are not useful for us in that they do not contain enough information, such as references for clarifying many "why's" which many sensible readers should feel! I will prepare a site for cosmology soon, although I have no more occasion to give a lecture on it. See Leibniz-Clarke. See also my review of Greene and Smolin.)
(Beware, most chapters are heavy!)
まえがき、もくじほか (Preface, Table of Contents, etc.) [246K]
第１章 古典力学と電磁気学から特殊相対性理論へ（1905） (From Classical Mechanics to Special Relativity)
参考 Galilean Relativity / Michelson-Morley Experiment / Galilean Relativity and Galilean Transformation / Einstein on Galileian System / Inertia / A Commentary on Newton's Scholium
第２章 等価原理の着想（1907-1911） (Led by the Equivalence Principle) [pdf file corrected Oct. 21]
参考 The Genesis of General Relativity: (1) Einstein's 1907 Paper / The Genesis of General Relativity: (2) Einstein's 1911 Paper /
第３章 曲がった時空（ 1912-1915） (Time Warps, Space Warps)
参考 Gauss' Theory of Curved Surface / Curvature and Riemann Tensor / Eddington on Kinds of Space and Field Equations / The Genesis of General Relativity: (3) Einstein and Grossmann's 1913 Paper
第４章 穴の謎（ 1913-1915） (The Riddle of the Hole)
参考 The Genesis of General Relativity: (4) Einstein's "Hole Argument" in his 1914 Paper / The Genesis of General Relativity: (5) Perihelion of Mercury / The Genesis of General Relativity: (6) How did Einstein overcome the "Hole Argument"? / Appendix: Howard & Norton (1993) / The Parable of the Apple
第５章 シュヴァルツシルト 幾何学とブラックホール (Schwarzschild Geometry and the Black Hole) [pdf file corrected Jan. 11, 2005]
参考 Schwarzschild Geometry / Mass in terms of Length / The Fate of Massive Stars / Approaching the Horizon / Inside the Horizon / Orbits and Trajectories (how to derive planetary motions, paths of light, etc.)
第６章 時空の哲学入門 (Ready for the Philosophy of Space and Time)
参考 Newton's Scholium / A Commentary on Newton's Scholium / Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, Part 1 / Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, Part 2 / Mach's Principle / The Machian Problem / The Invisible Framework and the Ultimate Arena / The Deep Structure of General Relativity
文献（REFERENCES） (195K)
1st assignment, due Oct. 26 (Tue)
2nd assignment, due Nov. 19 (Fri)
For additional materials, see the following sites:
Last modified Jan. 23, 2006. (c) Soshichi Uchii
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