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    Carmelics

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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Schlick and the logical empiricists argued that metric relations are fixed by coordinative definitions, not discovered as intrinsic features of manifolds.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Physical spacetime has intrinsic causal and topological structure that constrains which metric choices are empirically adequate.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Conventionalism conflates the freedom to choose coordinate systems with the freedom to assign any metric relations to reality.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Some metric facts (like light cone structure) are discovered through experiment, not merely stipulated by definition.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Metric properties like distance units depend on human choice of measurement standards, not mind-independent physical facts.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Different coordinate systems describe identical physical situations with different metric relations, showing metrics are conventional.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Empirical content concerns only relations between observations, not the abstract mathematical structure underlying description.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.