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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Einstein failed to successfully incorporate Mach's Principle into his general theory of relativity.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Einstein hoped that Mach's Principle would be incorporated into his field equations, which would require that spacetime cannot exist without matter.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.De Sitter's solution describes a valid universe that is entirely empty of matter.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.An empty universe satisfying Einstein's field equations is a direct counter-example to Mach's Principle being built into those equations.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Mach's Principle requires that inertial frames be fully determined by the global distribution of matter, not merely influenced by it.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Einstein's field equations permit gravitational waves and spacetime curvature to propagate in the absence of local matter sources.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A theory that allows inertial structure to be partially independent of matter distribution has failed to fully incorporate Mach's Principle.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Einstein himself acknowledged in his 1918 correspondence with de Sitter that his equations failed to satisfy Mach's Principle as he had intended.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The cosmological constant Einstein introduced was partly motivated by blocking the de Sitter solution, revealing his own recognition of this failure.
      ?

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