This is the homepage for PL2114-Philosophy of Relativity, Spring 2007, Polytechnic University.  Choose from the selection below.  This page will be updated periodically.

• Syllabus

• Lecture Notes
• 01. Survey of Pre-20th Century Physics
• 02. Special Relativity: Two Postulates, Michelson/Morley Experiment
• 03. Simultaneity
• 04. Kinematic Effects
• 05. Dynamics - Momentum
• 06. Dynamics - Energy
• 07. Interpreting Special Relativity
• 08. Non-Euclidean Geometry
• 09. General Relativity:  Geometrization of Gravity
• 10. The Einstein Equations
• 11. Interpreting General Relativity
• 12. Relativistic Cosmology
• 13. Black Holes. Part I.
• 14. Black Holes. Part II.
• 15. Time Travel. Part I.
• 16. Time Travel. Part II. (Time Machine Spacetimes)
  

• Assignments
• hw01 (due Thurs 2/1)
• hw02 (due Thurs 2/8)
• hw03 (due Thurs 2/15)
• hw04 (due Thurs 2/22)
• hw05 (due Thurs 3/1)
• hw06 (due Thurs 3/8)
• hw07 (due Thurs 3/15)
• hw08 (due Tues 3/27)
• hw09 (due Tues 4/10)
• hw10 and extra credit #1 (due Tues 4/17)
• hw11 (due Thurs 4/19)
• hw12 and extra credit #2 (due Thurs 4/26)
  
• Paper Assignment (due Thurs 4/26)
  

• Handouts

• Links
• Relevant articles in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
• "Space and Time:  Inertial Frames"
• "Backward Causation"
  
• "Conventionality of Simultaneity"
• "The Equivalence of Mass and Energy"
  
• "Being and Becoming in Modern Physics"
• "Absolute and Relational Theories of Space and Motion"
• "The Hole Argument"
• "Supertasks"
  
• "Time Machines"
• "Time Travel and Modern Physics"
• "Early Philosophical Interpretations of General Relativity"
  
• Other resources:
• Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial
  
• Jerzy Kocik's "Time Machines and Physics" website