A century of axiomatic systems for ordinal approaches to Special Relativity Theory

This talk presents an introductory overview of the history of axiomatic systems for the ordinal approach to special relativity.

Those axiomatic systems are based on the observation by Robb in the early twentieth century that axiomatic systems for Minkowski time-space can be constructed from a single causal or temporal order relation.

Depending on what the designers of the axiomatic systems are interested in, we get different results. Axiomatic systems can be of first or second order. If they are of first order, they may use an axiom scheme to generate an infinite set of axioms. Some systems are decidable, others are categorical. Some systems contain a metric, others don't. A comparison between the different systems is being made.