Grupo de Investigação | Research Group:

Filosofia das Ciências da Natureza | Philosophy of Nature Sciences

The study of space is a recurrent subject in Philosophy of Physics. During 20th century, several issues related to it arose, especially connected with General and Special Relativity. Despite the many existing publications, there are still some burning questions linked with classical mechanics and the evolution of this concept in the transition from 19th to 20th century that led to the formulation of the Relativity Theory.

The aim of this research line is to contribute to the analysis of problems like: i) the role of space in the formulation of the fundamental principles and concepts of mechanics (force, mass, time) and its evolution by the end of 19th century. This implies an analysis of this concepts in the light of some scientific-philosophical conceptions such as phenomenalism, economy of thought or conventionalism. ii) the relation between space and force in the so-called 'geometrization of forces' in General Theory of Relativity and the nominalization process suffered by the concept of force that guided this idea. iii) the role played by pluralism in scientific practice regarding the different conceptions of space that play a part in current science. This requires and inquiry of the benefits of having alternative conceptions to deal with nature and the epistemic problems derived.