In general relativity, the hole argument is an apparent paradox that much troubled Albert Einstein while developing his famous field equation.
Some philosophers of physics take the argument to raise a problem for manifold substantialism, a doctrine that the manifold of events in spacetime are a "substance" which exists independently of the matter within it. Other philosophers and physicists disagree with this interpretation, and view the argument as a confusion about gauge invariance and gauge fixing instead.
Read more about Hole Argument: Einstein's Hole Argument, Meaning of Coordinate Invariance, Einstein's Resolution
Famous quotes containing the words hole and/or argument:
“Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
O that that earth which kept the world in awe
Should patch a wall t’expel the winter’s flaw!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The argument is over.”
—St. Augustine (354–430)