The ontology of General Relativity

Gustavo E. Romero

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arXiv · 1301.7330

The ontology of General Relativity

Gustavo E. Romero

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Abstract

I discuss the ontological assumptions and implications of General Relativity. I maintain that General Relativity is a theory about gravitational fields, not about space-time. The latter is a more basic ontological category, that emerges from physical relations among all existents. I also argue that there are no physical singularities in space-time. Singular space-time models do not belong to the ontology of the world: they are not things but concepts, i.e. defective solutions of Einstein's field equations. I briefly discuss the actual implication of the so-called singularity theorems in General Relativity and some problems related to ontological assumptions of Quantum Gravity.

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Gustavo E. Romero. 2013-01-30. The ontology of General Relativity. https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7330

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