Related papers: Aristotle's Physics: a Physicist's Look
We try to lay down the foundations of a Newtonian theory where inertia and gravitational fields appear in a unified way aiming to reach a better understanding of the general relativistic theory. We also formulate a kind of equivalence…
Both relativistic mechanics and Newtonian mechanics are based on principles that have ontological implications. We propose a series of formalisms that rigorously define the ontology underlying mechanical theories, in order to clarify and…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
This paper has two goals. The first goal is to show how an extension of second-order logic is a natural framework to formalize portions of Aristotle's \emph{Topics} and to bring to the foreground the logical, linguistic and philosophical…
Astronomy is a precise and relatively simple science because objects accelerate in a gravitational field at the same rate, irrespective of their composition. Galileo knew this, and Einstein took it as the basis for general relativity.…
The analysis of theory-confirmation generally takes the deductive form: show that a theory in conjunction with physical data and auxiliary hypotheses yield a prediction about phenomena; verify the prediction; provide a quantitative measure…
I begin by reviewing some recent work on the status of the geodesic principle in general relativity and the geometrized formulation of Newtonian gravitation. I then turn to the question of whether either of these theories might be said to…
The formalism of classical particle dynamics is reinvestigated according to the basic requirement of causal consistency, and a new equation of particle dynamics, which is more general and more in line with classical mechanics experiments…
This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by exploring the role of intuition as a tool to deepen understanding in Einsteinian physics. Drawing on examples from the history of general relativity, we argue that the development of…
We acuminate the idea of a final theory of physics in order to analyze its logical implications and consequences. It is argued that the rationale of a final theory is the principle of sufficient reason. This implies that a final theory of…
Both for the background world model and its linear perturbations Newtonian cosmology coincides with the zero-pressure limits of relativistic cosmology. However, such successes in Newtonian cosmology are not purely based on Newton's gravity,…
I present the theoretical evidence which suggests that gravity is an emergent phenomenon like gas dynamics or elasticity with the gravitational field equations having the same status as, say, the equations of fluid dynamics/elasticity. This…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
We show that there is a correspondence between cosmology from non-extensive thermodynamics and cosmology with fluids of redefined and generalized equation of state. We first establish the correspondence in the case of basic non-extensive…
We propose a new point of view for interpreting Newton's and Einstein's theories of gravity. By taking inspiration from Continuum Mechanics and its treatment of anisotropies, we formulate new gravitational actions for modified theories of…
Euler's interpretation of Newton's gravity (NG) as Archimedes' thrust in a fluid ether is presented in some detail. Then a semi-heuristic mechanism for gravity, close to Euler's, is recalled and compared with the latter. None of these two…
What is a physical theory? Although this intriguing question has been addressed from many different perspectives, some physicists and philosophers of physics have implicitly or explicitly embraced a philosophically-neutral definition of a…
The relationship that is widely presumed to hold between physical theories and their successors, in which the successors in some sense explain the success of the theories they replace, is known commonly as 'reduction.' I argue that one…
Einstein's distinction between principle theories and constructive theories is methodological rather than metaphysical. Principle theories such as thermodynamics and relativity articulate empirically distilled constraints that delimit…
There is proved an existence theorem, in the Newtonian theory, for static, self-gravitating bodies composed of elastic material. The theorem covers the case where these bodies are small, but allows them to have arbitrary shape.