1993/10/22 by C. J. Isham · 115 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Computer science #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Epistemology #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Philosophy #Physics #Prima facie #Quantum #Quantum gravity #Quantum mechanics #Spacetime #Theoretical physics #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/3-540-58339-4_13
published in Lecture notes in physics, 1-21 (Springer Science+Business Media) · 20,IC/TP/01
arxiv created 1993/10/22 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The long history of the study of quantum gravity has thrown up a complex web of ideas and approaches. The aim of this article is to unravel this web a little by analysing some of the \em prima facie\/ questions that can be asked of almost any approach to quantum gravity and whose answers assist in classifying the different schemes. Particular emphasis is placed on (i) the role of background conceptual and technical structure; (ii) the role of spacetime diffeomorphisms; and (iii) the problem of time.