Leibnizian relationalism for general relativistic physics
Antonio Vassallo, Michael Esfeld
TL;DR
This paper explores Leibnizian relationalism within general relativity, proposing a Humean approach where the gravitational field encodes the change in distance relations among matter points, aiming for simplicity and informativeness.
Contribution
It extends Leibnizian relationalism to general relativistic physics using a Humean strategy to represent gravitational effects without additional structure.
Findings
Gravitational field as a representation of change in distance relations
Humean approach achieves a simple yet informative ontology
Relationalism can be coherently applied to general relativity
Abstract
An ontology of Leibnizian relationalism, consisting in distance relations among sparse matter points and their change only, is well recognized as a serious option in the context of classical mechanics. In this paper, we investigate how this ontology fares when it comes to general relativistic physics. Using a Humean strategy, we regard the gravitational field as a means to represent the overall change in the distance relations among point particles in a way that achieves the best combination of being simple and being informative.
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