Review: Garbe, Annette. Die partiell konventional, partiell empirisch bestimmte Realit\"at physikalischer RaumZeiten. K\"onigshausen & Neumann: W\"urzburg 2001, pp. 419, ISBN: 978-3-8260-2080-3

Abstract

In 2001 the book "Die partiell konventional, partiell empirisch bestimmte Realit\"at physikalischer RaumZeiten" was published by K\"onigshausen & Neumann, with a volume of more than 400 pages. It was written by Annette Garbe. The English translation might be: "The Partial Conventionally, Partial Empirically Determined Reality of Physical Space-Times." In the following review it is argued that Garbe's approach comes very close to Michael Friedman's contemporary defense of the relativized a priori. Whereas Friedman's analysis of the role of conventional and constitutive principles in the theory of relativity initiated much discussion in the literature, Garbe's defense of "partial determination" has been ignored by the scientific community. This is entirely unjust due to her highly original re-discovery of Ludwig Lange.