univocalness

The principle of univocalness should not be mistaken for a denial of the underdetermination thesis.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

The principle of univocalness asserts (in a somewhat anachronistic formulation) that any one theory, even any one among a set of empirically equivalent theories, should provide a univocal representation of nature by determining for itself an isomorphic set of models.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

Note, again, that underdetermination is not a failure of univocalness.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

The principle of univocalness played a central role in Einstein's struggles to formulate the general theory of relativity.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

But Einstein's "hole argument" is wrong, and his own diagnosis of the error in 1915 rests again, ironically, on a deployment of the principle of univocalness.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

The application of a coordinate chart cannot suffice to individuate manifold points precisely because a coordinate chart is not an invariant labeling scheme, whereas univocalness in the representation of nature requires such invariance

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

It played a major role in debates over the ontology of general relativity and was an important part of the background to the development of the modern concept of categoricity in formal semantics (for more on the history, influence, and demise of the principle of univocalness, see Howard 1992 and 1996).

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

It is closer still to the principle discussed above -- and cited as a precursor of the concept of categoricity -- namely, the principle of univocalness, which we found doing such important work in Einstein's question for a general theory of relativity, where it was the premise forcing the adoption of an invariant and thus univocal scheme for the individuation of spacetime manifold points.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

G (x) and G² (x), referred to the same reference system, satisfy the conditions of the grav. field, no contradiction follows with the univocalness of events.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004

1913, Einstein wrongly rejected a fully generally covariant theory of gravitation, he did so in part because he thought, wrongly, that generally covariant field equations failed the test of univocalness.

Einstein's Philosophy of Science Howard, Don A. 2004