Abstract

This essay will consider evolutionary views that attempt to capture the continuity of theory-change from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics via the formal aspects of these theories. Although it cannot be denied that the formal aspects such as 'correspondence principles' and 'covariance principles' provide important information concerning this theory-change, these formal properties are not sufficient to capture the essential elements of any evolutionary account of the development of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity from Newtonian mechanics.