Dr Jonathan E Fay

My main interests are in the history and philosophy of physics. I believe that it is only by reconnecting modern physics to its roots in philosophy that we can bring it forwards with confidence. My research is centered around investigating the justification and consequences of relational theories, in particular of Mach's hypothesis about the origin of inertia and its further development in the work of Einstein, Sciama, Barbour and others. Recently I have been investigating the historical arguments of Wallis and Delboeuf for replacing the parallel postulate in Euclidean geometry with the postulate of the reciprocal independance of shape and size. A central theme in my work is to carry forwards Kant's project of distinguishing the pure and empirical parts of natural science.

Personal website: Relative Motion