On 20/05/13 21:13, Absolutely Vertical wrote:
> On 5/20/2013 1:53 PM, Alfonso wrote:
>> SR was a way of calculating the Lorentz transforms from what might be
>> described as an empirical starting points. Assuming Maxwell's aether
>> theory to be correct and being unable to fault the methodology of the
>> MMX then the null result had measured the speed of an observer w.r.t
>> aether as always being zero. The second postulate simply describes what
>> an observer stationary w.r.t the aether would experience.
>
> except that the second postulate does not stand alone. it was offered in
> conjunction with the first postulate, which went on to say that what the
> second postulate describes would be true not only for the observer
> stationary w.r.t. the aether, but also for all observers in uniform
> relative motion to it.
>
>>
>> At the time SR was incomplete in that a normal part of a theory in
>> those days would be an explanation of the physical process involved.
>
> ahem. maxwell's theory was no more incomplete than newton's law of
> gravitation
Maxwell's aether *theory* was a classical theory in that it attempted to
explain the nature of light in terms of a physical medium and physical
waves in that medium. The medium was also responsible for transferring
the action at a distance force between charges.
Newtons *laws* represent a mathematical description. It was not a theory
as such although I believe that Newton did speculate regarding a
gravitational aether i.e. a means of explaining the force between masses.
or for that matter the kinetic theory of gases, which only
> made general statements about the microscopic behavior of the gas
> molecules. yet the other two do not seem to bother you much, despite
> your loud complaining about the incompleteness of sr.
>
> secondly, there is a physical explanation of sr.
No there isn't. Einstein described relativity as a "principle theory".
"[Principle theorys] employ the analytic, not the synthetic, method. The
elements which form their bases and starting-point are not
hypothetically constructed but empirically discovered ones, general
characteristics of natural processes, principles that give rise to
mathematically formulated criteria which these separate processes or the
theoretical representations of them have to satisfy.... The theory of
relativity belongs to the latter class. In order to grasp its nature,
one needs first of all to become acquainted with the principles on
which it is based." Einstein [1]
By principles he means the 2 postulates. The second postulate was
"empirically discovered" when the MMX measured the speed of an observer
as always being zero and the second postulate describing what an
observer stationary w.r.t. the aether would observe.
Under Kant's philosophy "explanations" are futile attempts to describe
nature which according to his philosophy is beyond the human mind. The
word "theory" has been re-defined to mean a mathematical model and such
is describes as a "physical" "theory" if it predicts physical outcome.
"What [modern physics] says is that there is not necessarily a cause in
the *classical* sense. In a *classical* philosophy, "cause" gets
strapped on with baggage that is not central to the core meaning of
cause. For example, in a classical philosophy, "cause" adds the
extraneous baggage of "preceding in time", which is in fact not
necessary to the core meaning of "cause" and is in fact ONLY supported
in a classical philosophy. There is NOTHING WHATSOEVER WRONG with
changing the meaning of a term to strip down what it means. Causality is
NOT abandoned by physics. Strict, time-ordered deterministic causality
through a unique set of physical states is abandoned." PD
it's just not of the
> character you would expect, based on matter-on-matter interactions,
> which is why you find lorentz aether theory somehow more appealing. you
> don't like explanations that are not matter-on-matter interactions and
> discount them as physical explanations at all. scientists are not nearly
> so narrow minded about what constitutes a physical (not mathematical)
> explanation.
>
>> Lorentz's aether theory had such an explanation and Einstein objected to
>> the asymmetry implied by it. Einstein was looking for an explanation
>> which still included the aether in order to provide both a medium for
>> light to propagate in and to justify the concept of source independence
>> as per Maxwell i.e. the speed of light is a function of the aether not
>> of the process of generation.
>
[1] "What is the Theory of Relativity?", Einstein, Ideas and Opinions,
Three Rivers Press, p. 228-9.