Heidelberg 2022 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 1: Symmetry and Geometry

AGPhil 1.4: Talk

Monday, March 21, 2022, 12:30–13:00, AGPhil-H14

The Spatially of the Universe in Einstein*s paper *Geometry and Experience* — •Taimara Passero — University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

The aim of this talk is to present and discuss the role of Euclidean geometry in Einstein*s argument concerning the spatially of the Universe. Albert Einstein analyzes this topic in the paper *Geometry and Experience*, given as a public address on January 27, 1921 at the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In the first part of his paper, Einstein distinguishes between *purely axiomatic geometry* and *practical geometry*. In the second part, Einstein discusses whether the Universe is spatially finite or not. He presents a beautiful argument to illustrate the theory of a finite Universe by means of a mental picture using his notion of practical geometry. To obtain this, Einstein goes from the thinking and visualization offered by Euclidean geometry to acquire a mental picture of the spherical geometry. This process leads him to conclude that *the human faculty of visualization is by no means bound to capitulate to non-Euclidean geometry*.