Philosophical Problems of Space and Time

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XXIII

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2. Philosophical Problems of the Metric of Space and Time

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Spatial and Temporal Congruence in Physics: A Critical Comparison of the Conceptions of Newton, Riemann, Poincaré, Eddington, Bridgman, Russell, and Whitehead

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 3-65

   3. The Significance of Alternative Time Metrizations in Newtonian Mechanics and in the General Theory of Relativity

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 66-80

   4. Critique of Reichenbach’s and Carnap’s Philosophy of Geometry

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 81-105

   5. Critique of Einstein’s Philosophy of Geometry

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 106-151

   6. Empiricism and the Geometry of Visual Space

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 152-157

   7. The Resolution of Zeno’s Metrical Paradox of Extension for the Mathematical Continua of Space and Time

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 158-176

3. Philosophical Problems of the Topology of Time and Space

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

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   2. The Causal Theory of Time

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 179-208

   3. The Anisotropy of Time

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 209-280

   4. The Asymmetry of Retrodictability and Predictability, the Compossibility of Explanation of the Past and Prediction of the Future, and Mechanism vs. Teleology

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 281-313

   5. Is There a “Flow” of Time or Temporal “Becoming”?

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 314-329

   6. Empiricism and the Three-Dimensionality of Space

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 330-337

4. Philosophical Issues in the Theory of Relativity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 339-339

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   2. Philosophical Foundations of the Special Theory of Relativity, and Their Bearing on Its History

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 341-409

   3. Philosophical Appraisal of E. A. Milne’s Alternative to Einstein’s STR

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 410-417

   4. Has the General Theory of Relativity Repudiated Absolute Space?

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 418-424

   5. Philosophical Critique of Whitehead’s Theory of Relativity

      • Adolf Grünbaum

      Pages 425-428

5. Back Matter

   Pages 429-446

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It is ten years since Adolf Griinbaum published the first edition of this book. It was promptly recognized to be one of the few major works in the philosophy of the natural sciences of this generation. In part, this is so because Griinbaum has chosen a problem basic both to philosophy and to the natural sciences - the nature of space and time; and in part, this is so because he so admirably exemplifies that Aristotelian devotion to the intimate and mutual dependence of actual science and philosophical understanding. More than this, however, the quality of his work derives from his achievement in combining detail with scope. The problems of space and time have been among the most difficult in contemporary and classical thought, and Griinbaum has been responsible to the full depth and complexity of these difficulties. This revised and enlarged second edition is a work in progress, in the tradition of reflective analysis of modern science of such figures as Ehrenfest and Reichenbach. In publishing this work among the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, we hope to contribute to and encourage that broad tradition of natural philosophy which is marked by the close collaboration of philoso­ phers and scientists. To this end, we have published the proceedings of our Colloquia, of meetings and conferences here and abroad, as well as the works of single authors.

• Bertrand Russell
• Issac Newton
• Orient
• Rudolf Carnap
• astronomy
• bibliography
• dynamics
• empiricism
• interdependence
• opera
• philosophy
• subject
• teleology
• theory of relativity
• time

• University of Pittsburgh, USA

  Adolf Grünbaum

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