Mirroring as an a priori symmetry
<p>A relationist will account for the use of 'left' and 'right' in terms of relative orientations, and other properties and relations invariant under mirroring. This analysis will apply whenever mirroring is a symmetry, so it certainly applies to classical mechanics; we arg...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Chicago Press
2007
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| Summary: | <p>A relationist will account for the use of 'left' and 'right' in terms of relative orientations, and other properties and relations invariant under mirroring. This analysis will apply whenever mirroring is a symmetry, so it certainly applies to classical mechanics; we argue it applies to any physical theory formulated on a manifold: it is in this sense an <em>a priori</em> symmetry. It should apply in particular to parity violating theories in quantum mechanics; mirror symmetry is only broken in such theories as a <em>special</em> symmetry.</p> |
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