The philosophy of special relativity: A comparison between Indian and Western interpretations

• Main Author: THULASIDAS, Manoj
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: Relativity; Speed of Light; Phenomenalism; Advaita; Physics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/3514; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/4515/viewcontent/omega.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The Western philosophical phenomenalism could be treated as a kind of philosophical basis of the special theory of relativity. The perceptual limitations of our senses hold the key to the understanding of relativistic postulates. The specialness of the speed of light in our phenomenal space and time is more a matter of our perceptual apparatus, than an input postulate to the special theory of relativity. The author believes that the parallels among the phenomenological, Western spiritual and the Eastern Advaita interpretations of special relativity point to an exciting possibility of unifying the Eastern and Western schools of thought to some extent.