Famously, Adrian Moore has argued that an absolute representation of reality is possible: that it is possible to represent reality from no particular point of view. Moreover, Moore believes that such absolute representations are a desideratum of physics. Recently, however, debates in the philosophy of physics have arisen regarding the apparent impossibility of an absolute representation of certain aspects of nature in light of our current best theories of physics. Throughout this article, we take gravitational energy as a particular case study of an aspect of nature that seemingly does not admit of an absolute representation. There is, therefore, a prima facie tension between Moore’s a priori case on the one hand, and the state-of-play in modern physics on the other. This article overcomes this tension by demonstrating how, when formulated in the correct way, modern physics admits of an absolute representation of gravitational energy after all. In so doing, the article offers a detailed case study of Moore’s argument for absolute representation, clarifying its structure and bringing it into contact with the distinction drawn by philosophers of physics between coordinate-freedom and coordinate-independence, as well as the philosophy of spacetime physics.

著名的阿德里安·摩尔 （Adrian Moore） 认为，现实的绝对表示是可能的：有可能从任何特定的角度来表示现实。此外，摩尔认为这种绝对表示是物理学的产物。然而，最近，物理哲学中出现了关于根据我们目前最好的物理学理论绝对表示自然界某些方面的绝对表示显然是不可能的辩论。在整篇文章中，我们将引力能作为自然界的一个特定案例研究，它似乎不承认绝对的表示。因此，摩尔的先验案例与现代物理学的现状之间存在表面上的紧张关系。本文通过展示现代物理学在以正确的方式表述时如何承认引力能的绝对表示来克服这种紧张关系。在此过程中，本文对摩尔的绝对表示论点进行了详细的案例研究，澄清了其结构，并将其与物理学哲学家在坐标自由和坐标独立性之间划定的区别以及时空物理学哲学联系起来。