On various senses of "conventional" and their interrelation in the philosophy of physics

simultaneity as a case study

Mauro Dorato

pp. 335-349

in: Friedrich Stadler (ed), The present situation in the philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2010

Abstract

My aim in this note¹ is to disambiguate various senses of "conventional" that in the philosophy of physics have been frequently conflated. As a case study, I will refer to the well-known issue of the conventionality of simultaneity in the special theory of relativity, since it is particularly in this context that the above mentioned confusion is present.