Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity. Translated and edited by Maria Reichenbach. Foreword by Wesley C. Salmon.

REICHENBACH, Hans (1891-1953):

Published by Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969., 1969

About this Item

First Edition in English of Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1st German ed., 1924). xx, 208 pp. Original cloth. Signature of former owner on flyleaf, else Very Good+, in very good+ dust jacket (price-clipped). '[W]e must accept - Reichenbach says - that the geometrical form of a body is not an absolute fact, but depends on a co-ordinative definition. There is an astonish consequence of this fact. If a geometry G was proved to be the real geometry by a set of measurements, we could arbitrarily choose a different geometry G' and adopt a different set of co-ordinative definitions so that G' would become the real geometry. This is the principle of relativity of geometry, which Reichenbach examines, from a mathematical point of view, in Axiomatization of the theory of relativity' (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). 'By 1924 Reichenbach had developed his theory of 'equivalent descriptions,' a central tenet of his theory of knowledge. It is formulated in his Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1924) . This theory attributes an indispensable role in physical theory to conventions but rejects the extreme conventionalism of Poincaré and his school. Reichenbach insisted that a completely stated description or physical theory must include conventional elements, in particular such 'coordinating definitions' as equal lengths and simultaneous times. These definitions are not bits of knowledge, for such questions as whether or not two rods distant from each other have the same length are not empirically answerable. Hench such coordinations must be regarded as conventions, as definitions, as neither true nor false' (D.S.B. XI: 356). [a.c.].

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity. Translated and edited by Maria Reichenbach. Foreword by Wesley C. Salmon.
• Publisher: Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.
• Publication Date: 1969
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine