Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 4: Spacetime Thoeries

AGPhil 4.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 10:30–11:00, H 2033

Is Lorentz's Ether Theory Suited to Ground the Privilege of the Present — •Thorben Petersen — Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bremen

On the so-called Lorentzian interpretation of relativistic effects, it is assumed that there is ether compensation, which brings it about that electromagnetic and kinematic phenomena are both Lorentz invariant even though the underlying space-time is Newtonian. According to Einsteins special theory of relativity, by contrast, Lorentz invariance reflects a different kind of default space-time behaviour (the space-time being Minkowskian). A crucial difference is that unlike Einsteins interpretation the Lorentzian interpretation retains an absolute relation of simultaneity. Prima facie this makes it attractive to those who think that the present is ontologically privileged, for it seemingly allows to maintain that one need not relativize the present to different inertial frames of reference. The aim of this talk is to cast doubt on this assumption. I argue that one faces serious semantical, epistemological and metaphysical problems upon combining Lorentzianism with the claim that the present is ontologically privileged.