Jonathan Bain
Dept. of Technology, Culture and Society
Tandon School of Engineering, New York University

STS-UY.2274 Space and Spacetime

Courses


Syllabus

Required online reading:

1.
[N] Norton, J. (2019) 'The Hole Argument', The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, E. Zalta (ed.), <plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-holearg>
2.
[R] Rynasiewicz, R. (2011) 'Newton's Views on Space, Time, and Motion', The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, E. Zalta (ed.) <plato.stanford.edu/entries/newton-stm>
3.
[S] Slowik, E. (2021) 'Descartes' Physics', The Stanford Encyclodpedia of Philosophy, E. Zalta (ed.), <plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-physics.

 
Lecture Slides:
01. Introduction
02. Plato
03. Euclid
04. Zeno
05. Aristotle
06. Aristotelian Tradition
07. Descartes 
08. Newton
09. The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence
10. Berkeley & Mach
11. Spacetime
12. Kant and Handedness
13. Kant and Geometry
14. Poincare
15a. Einstein and Special Relativity
15b. Minkowski Spacetime
16. Einstein and General Relativity
17. Quantum Gravity and Spacetime

Study questions:
01. Chapters 1-4
02. Chapters 6-9
03. Chapters 11-14

Paper topics:
Paper 
Paper guidelines

Homework:
hw01
hw02
hw03
hw04
hw05
hw06
hw07
ec
 
 

 Relevant articles in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
"Plato's Timaeus"
"Space and Time:  Inertial Frames"
"Absolute and Relational Theories of Space and Motion: Classical Theories"
"Absolute and Relational Theories of Space and Motion: Post-Newtonian Theories"
"Descartes' Physics"
"Newton's Views on Space, Time, and Motion"
"The Hole Argument"
"Zeno's Paradoxes"
"Conventionality of Simultaneity"