"Perverted Space-Time Geodesy in Einstein’s Views on Geometry"

June 2018 Philosophia Scientae 22(2):137-162
DOI:10.4000/philosophiascientiae.1449
Authors:
Mario Bacelar Valente
Pablo de Olavide University
"Abstract
A perverted space-time geodesy results from the idea of variable rods
and clocks, whose length and rates are taken to be affected by the
gravitational field. By contrast, what we might call a concrete geodesy
relies on the idea of invariable unit-measuring rods and clocks. Indeed,
this is a basic assumption of general relativity. Variable rods and
clocks lead to a perverted geodesy, in the sense that a curved
space-time may be seen as a result of a departure from the Minkowskian
space-time as an effect of the gravitational field on the rate of clocks
and the length of rods. In the case of a concrete geodesy, we have a
curved space-time "directly", the curvature of which can be determined
using (invariable) unit-measuring rods and clocks. In this paper, we
will make the case for the plausibility of the claim that Einstein's
views on geometry in relation to general relativity are permeated by a
perverted geodesy."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326652489_Perverted_Space-Time_Geodesy_in_Einstein%27s_Views_on_Geometry