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Part 2: Theoretical equivalence in physics
Author(s) -
Weatherall James Owen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12591
Subject(s) - equivalence (formal languages) , categorical variable , logical equivalence , interpretation (philosophy) , duality (order theory) , mathematics , equivalence relation , epistemology , calculus (dental) , algebra over a field , pure mathematics , philosophy , linguistics , medicine , statistics , dentistry
I review the philosophical literature on the question of when two physical theories are equivalent. This includes a discussion of empirical equivalence, which is often taken to be necessary, and sometimes taken to be sufficient, for theoretical equivalence; and “interpretational” equivalence, which is the idea that two theories are equivalent just in case they have the same interpretation. It also includes a discussion of several formal notions of equivalence that have been considered in the recent philosophical literature, including (generalized) definitional equivalence and categorical equivalence. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the relationship between equivalence and duality. The article is in two parts; this is Part 2, which addresses categorical equivalence, interpretational equivalence, and duality.