Prácticas de medición, convencionalismo y geometría

Resumen

A finales del siglo XIX e inicios del XX, Henri Poincaré afirmó que la aplicación de las geometrías no euclidianas a la física era posible, pero que nunca resultaría adecuada. Sin embargo, Albert Einstein lo hizo en en su formulación de la relatividad general de una manera que parece contradecir a Poincaré. Hago uso de la reciente literatura en filosofía de la cincia acerca de las prácticas de medición para reevaluar este caso. Con una breve reconstrucción de los argumentos de Poincaré y considerando la historia de la indagación de Einstein acerca de la relatividad, muestro que el uso de las geometrías no euclidianas es motivado por consideraciones acerca de la medición no tomados en cuenta por el convencionalismo de Poincaré. El estudio permite sacar conclusiones sobre la necesidad de identificar adecuadamente los mecanismos de desición que operan en la práctica científica.

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Publicado
03-06-2019
Sección
Artículos