John Earman is a philosopher of physics. He is currently a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Philosophy of physics is the study of the fundamental, philosophical questions underlying modern physics, the study of matter and energy and how it interacts. ... The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related, doctoral/research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ...

The Hole Argument

Earman has notably contributed to debate about the "hole argument". The hole argument was invented for slightly different purposes by Albert Einstein late in 1913 as part of his quest for the general theory of relativity (GTR). It was revived and reformulated in the modern context by John3 (a short form for the "three Johns": John Earman, John Stachel, and John Norton). Albert Einstein photographed by Oren J. Turner in 1947. ... General relativity (GR) or general relativity theory (GRT) is the theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. ... John Norton Olympic medalist John Norton creator of the webcomic George Comics Categories: Disambiguation ...

With the GTR, the traditional debate between absolutism and relationalism has been shifted to the question as to whether or not spacetime is a substance, since the GTR largely rules out the existence of, e.g., absolute positions. The "hole argument" offered by John Earman is a powerful argument against spacetime substantivalism. Absolute truth can be interpreted in different ways based on its usage, just like truth. ... Philosophy of Space and Time is a branch of philosophy which deals with issues surrounding the ontology, epistemology and character of space and time. ... World line of the orbit of the Earth depicted in two spatial dimensions X and Y (the plane of the Earth orbit) and a time dimension, usually put as the vertical axis. ...

This is a technical mathematical argument but can be paraphrased as follows:

Define a function d as the identity function over all elements over the manifold M, excepting a small neighbourhood (topology) H belonging to M. Over H d comes to differ from identity by a smooth function. This page is about a higher mathematics topic. ... Topology (Greek topos, place and logos, study) is a branch of mathematics concerned with spatial properties preserved under bicontinuous deformation (stretching without tearing or gluing); these are the topological invariants. ...

With use of this function d we can construct two mathematical models, where the second is generated by applying d to proper elements of the first, such that the two models are identical prior to the time t=0, where t is a time function created by a foliation of spacetime, but differ after t=0. In mathematics, informally speaking, a foliation is a kind of clothing worn on a manifold, cut from a stripy fabric. ...

These considerations show that, since substantivalism allows the construction of holes, that the universe must, on that view, be indeterministic. Which, Earman argues, is a case against substantivalism, as the case between determinism or indeterminism should be a question of physics, not of our commitment to substantivalism. Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. ... Indeterminism is the philosophical belief that free will and determinism are incompatible, and that there are events which do not correspond with determinism. ...

Books Authored by Earman

• A Primer on Determinism
• World Enough and Spacetime: Absolute vs. Relational Theories of Space and Time
• Bayes or Bust: A Critical Examination of Bayesian Confirmation Theory
• Bangs, Crunches, Hume's Abject Failure: The Argument Against Miracles, Whimpers and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic Spacetimes.