The Genesis of General Relativity: An Inter-Theoretical Context
The Genesis of General Relativity: An Inter-Theoretical Context

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to amend the received view on the genesis and approval of general relativity (GR) owing to the common scientific practice of its functioning, the history of science data and the philosophy of science reasons. The genesis of GR is elucidated as an instance of an epistemological model of a mature theory change that hinges upon ‘old’ mature theories’ encounter and interaction. The arguments are strengthened in favour of the tenet that the dynamic creation of the GR had been continually governed by strong internal tensions between two research traditions, that of special relativity and Newton’s gravity. The 1907 encounter of the traditions, their deep interpenetration and subtle intertwinement entailed construction of a vast hybrid domain, at first with an irregular set of theoretical models. Step by step, on consecutive eliminating of the contradictions between the contrived models, the hybrid set was put into order by dint of the ‘principle of equivalence’. It is contended that one of the reasons for the GR victory over the ingenious rival programmes of Abraham and Nordström was the synthetic character of Einstein’s research programme. As a result of reconciling and amalgamating the ‘physical’ and ‘mathematical’ approaches, embodied in Abraham, Einstein and Nordström’s crossbred theoretical models, Einstein was able to explain the anomalous motion of Mercury.

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