Article ID: CBB000501572

Answers in Search of a Question: `Proofs' of the Tri-Dimensionality of Space (2005)

unapi

From Kant's first published work to recent articles in the physics literature, philosophers and physicists have long sought an answer to the question: Why does space have three dimensions? In this paper, I will flesh out Kant's claim with a brief detour through Gauss' law. I then describe Bchel's version of the common argument that stable orbits are possible only if space is three dimensional. After examining objections by Russell and van Fraassen, I develop three original criticisms of my own. These criticisms are relevant to both historical and contemporary proofs of the dimensionality of space (in particular, a recent one by Burgbacher, Lmmerzahl, and Macias). In general, I argue that modern proofs of the dimensionality of space have gone off track.

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Authors & Contributors
Lindberg, Susanna
Enrico Cinti
Undusk, Rein
Reichenberger, Andrea
Williams, Jessica J.
Biagioli, Francesca
Concepts
Space
Philosophy of science
Time
Philosophy
Physics
Motion (physical)
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
17th century
21st century
20th century, early
Renaissance
Places
England
United States
Germany
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