Physical Reality, Theoretical Physics, and Mathematics—15 Years Later

Abstract

Physicists usually admit a rather naive concept of physical reality: it is the object they are investigating using experiments understood as actions in the real world. In theoretical physics, the object of investigation is not the real world itself but its mathematical description which is considered as describing physical reality as exactly as possible. I present arguments from philosophy of science and from recent work in the theory of gravitational physics which indicate a possibility to defend also antirealistic views, and clarify in which sense both standpoints can be viable.

Keywords

• general relativity
• scientific antirealism
• scientific realism
• spacetime
• teleparallel equivalent of general relativity