Volume 7: Pages 436-441, 1994
The Self‐Consistency of the Kinematics of Special Relativity
I. J. Good 1
1Department of Statistics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061‐0439 U.S.A.
A recent argument by McCausland, claiming that the kinematics of the special theory of relativity is internally inconsistent, is shown here to be fallacious. Apparently a small lapse in Einstein's exposition was one cause of the error by McCausland and of Dingle's earlier errors. Very strong evidence will be presented for the self‐consistency of the kinematics.
Keywords: composition of velocities, instrumentalism, natural coordinate systems, proper time, realism, simulines, space‐time, special relativity, twin paradox, twin travelers
Received: July 27, 1993; Published Online: December 15, 2008
