RELATIVITY POSTULATE
Charles François (2004). RELATIVITY POSTULATE, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2819.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2819 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
- “Any hypothesis valid for A as well as for B must be rejected if not valid for A and B together” (H.von FOERSTER, 1992, p.84).
von FOERSTER justificates his postulate giving as an example Ptolemean cosmography. Earthians and Martians could both believe their own planet to be the center of the planetary system, but only in base of two different cosmographies. However only the Copernican description is non-contradictory: “Every planet on its own and all of them together could move around the sun, without any logical contradiction: The heliocentric system validates the relativity postulate” (p.84).
This is indeed a very interesting conceptual generalization of physical relativity.