GO
TO THE
HEART OF RELATIVITY
AS A PRINCIPLE OF PHYSICS.
IN GENERAL, PHYSICS RECOGNIZES
THAT OBSERVATIONS ARE INHERENTLY PARTICULARISTIC,
AND ONLY HAVE MEANING IN RELATION TO THE OBSERVER'S TOOLS,
METHODS, CONDITION OF MOTION, POINT OF VIEW, REPORTING, AND SO ON,
CONSIDERATIONS REFERRED TO COLLECTIVELY AS THE OBSERVER'S FRAME OF REFERENCE.
ALTHOUGH THE REFERENCE FRAME IS ITSELF CONSTRUCTED FROM THE VERY OBJECTS OF PHYSICAL STUDY,
CAREFUL USE OF OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS PERMUTS A USEFULLY COMSISTENT SET OF SHARED MEANINGS TO BE ESTABLISHED AND PUBLICLY CHARED, A PRIMARY FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE.
IN THIS SPIRIT (MEANING PROPENSITY, NOT SPIRITUALITY), PHYSICAL INFLUENCE SIMPLY MEANS
A CONSISTENT PATTERN OF PHENOMENA AMENABLE TO CONTROLLED, REPEATABLE,
AND PUBLICLY AGREED-UPON EXPERIMENT, WHETHER
OR NOT A CORRESPONDING THEORY
EXISTS.