Physical Space and other kinds of space
Mach, Carnap and Reichenbach classifications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20873/rpv8n1-65Abstract
This work presents a synthesis of the comparative study of the classifications of Ernst Mach, Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach, with a main objective: the demarcation of the general problem – “what is space?” – in order to better delimit the specific problem: “what is physical space?” For this purpose, it is necessary to contrast this concept with the other “kinds of space” that designate the different meanings that the word ‘space’ can assume; meanings restricted to the intersection of the areas of physics, mathematics and philosophy.
Mach classified “space” into three kinds by considering three different approaches: physiological space (visual, tactile), geometric spaces (Euclidean, non-Euclideans) and metric space (in the sense of “space of physical metric experiences”). Carnap, in his doctoral thesis “Der Raum”, defended a different ternary classification, in which there is no unifying “space”, there are three kinds that must be rigorously distinguished, although they preserve relationships: formal space, intuitive space and physical space.
Finally, Reichenbach, in his magnum opus “The Philosophy of Space & Time”, attacked all attempts at ternary classifications and reduced them to the dual distinction between physical space and mathematical spaces. Why is this radical distinction “so current”? Did it surpass the others?
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