![]() Rather, it essentially relies on the rest of nature (the non-gravitational interactions) conspiring to choose the appropriate set of inertial frames. The spacetime geometry involved in a gravitational theory is not a straightforward consequence of anything internal to that theory as a theory of gravity. In accepting this, we see that the ontological commitments of these theories cannot be directly deduced from their mathematical form. ![]() On close examination, the alternative formulations are best interpreted as postulating the same spacetime ontology. ![]() I argue that these theories do not, in fact, represent cases of worrying underdetermination. Finally, in Einstein's theory the instantaneous gravitational force is replaced by the curvature of spacetime. It also explained why objects fall independent of their mass: they all follow the same straightest possible line in curved space-time. Ten years after his special relativity, Einstein gave us his 1915 battle-tested and still standard theory of gravitation. Einstein's theory gave a correct prediction for the perihelion shift of Mercury. Gravity manifests the curvature of spacetime. One of these concerns theoretical underdetermination. Gravity, as we see it today, does not count as a foreign force transmitted through space and time. It is less well-known that general relativity, a geometrical theory of gravity, can be reformulated in such a way that it resembles a force theory of gravity teleparallel gravity does just this. It is well-known that Newtonian gravity, commonly held to describe a gravitational force, can be recast in a form that incorporates gravity into the geometry of the theory: Newton–Cartan theory.
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