Vickers, P. (2009) 'Was Newtonian cosmology really inconsistent?', Studies in history and philosophy of modern physics., 40 (3). pp. 197-208.
Abstract
This paper follows up a debate as to the consistency of Newtonian cosmology. Whereas Malament [(1995). Is Newtonian cosmology really inconsistent? Philosophy of Science 62, 489–510] has shown that Newtonian cosmology is not inconsistent, to date there has been no analysis of Norton's claim [(1995). The force of Newtonian cosmology: Acceleration is relative. Philosophy of Science 62, 511–522.] that Newtonian cosmology was inconsistent prior to certain advances in the 1930s, and in particular prior to Seeliger's seminal paper of Seeliger [(1895). Über das Newton'sche Gravitationsgesetz. Astronomische Nachrichten 137 (3273), 129–136.] In this paper I agree that there are assumptions, Newtonian and cosmological in character, and relevant to the real history of science, which are inconsistent. But there are some important corrections to make to Norton's account. Here I display for the first time the inconsistencies—four in total—in all their detail. Although this extra detail shows there to be several different inconsistencies, it also goes some way towards explaining why they went unnoticed for 200 years.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Full text: | (AM) Accepted Manuscript Download PDF (421Kb) |
| Status: | Peer-reviewed |
| Publisher Web site: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2009.05.001 |
| Publisher statement: | NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Studies in history and philosophy of modern physics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Studies in history and philosophy of modern physics, 40/3, 2009, 10.1016/j.shpsb.2009.05.001 |
| Date accepted: | No date available |
| Date deposited: | 12 February 2013 |
| Date of first online publication: | 2009 |
| Date first made open access: | No date available |
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