Abstract
In this essay, I examine the curved spacetime formulation of Newtonian gravity known as Newton-Cartan gravity and compare it with flat spacetime formulations. Two versions of Newton-Cartan gravity can be identified in the physics literature-a "weak" version and a "strong" version. The strong version has a constrained Hamiltonian formulation and consequently a well-defined gauge structure, whereas the weak version does not (with some qualifications). Moreover, the strong version is best compared with the structure of what Earman (World enough and spacetime. Cambridge: MIT Press) has dubbed Maxwellian spacetime. This suggests that there are also two versions of Newtonian gravity in flat spacetime-a "weak" version in Maxwellian spacetime, and a "strong" version in Neo-Newtonian spacetime. I conclude by indicating how these alternative formulations of Newtonian gravity impact the notion of empirical indistinguishability and the debate over scientific realism.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 345-376 |
Number of pages | 32 |
Journal | Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B - Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2004 |
Keywords
- Empirical indistinguishability
- Gauge system
- Newtonian gravity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- History
- General Physics and Astronomy
- History and Philosophy of Science