Albert Einstein
Space and time are not fixed and absolute but depend on the observer’s motion – and physics must match experience, not intuition.
Placement
Theory of relativity: inspired the philosophy of science from the Vienna Circle to Popper.
Key ideas
- Theory of relativity
Influence
Influenced by 5
Baruch de Spinoza
influenced by ✓
Einstein said he believed in ‘Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists’, not in a God concerned with human fates and actions (1929). A. Einstein, cable to Rabbi H. Goldstein (24 Apr. 1929); “Religion und Wissenschaft” (1930); M. Jammer, Einstein and Religion (1999)
Baruch de Spinoza › 1632–1677
Isaac Newton
influenced by ✓
Einstein kept Newton’s mechanics as a limiting case while replacing absolute space and time with relativistic spacetime and gravitation with curvature (‘Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie’, 1916). A. Einstein, “Die Grundlage der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie”, Annalen der Physik 49 (1916); “Autobiographical Notes” (1949); SEP “Einstein’s Philosophy of Science”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Isaac Newton › 1643–1727
David Hume
influenced by ✓
Einstein said that reading Hume’s critique of concepts, with Mach, helped him question absolute simultaneity in special relativity (letter to Schlick, 1915; Autobiographical Notes, 1949). A. Einstein, “Autobiographical Notes”, in P. A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949); Einstein to M. Schlick, 14 Dec. 1915; SEP “Einstein’s Philosophy of Science”
David Hume › 1711–1776
Immanuel Kant
influenced by
Einstein, who read Kant as a schoolboy, held that physical concepts are free creations, not abstracted from experience, but rejected their a priori status (‘Reply to Criticisms’, 1949). A. Einstein, “Reply to Criticisms”, in P. A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949); “Geometrie und Erfahrung” (1921); SEP “Einstein’s Philosophy of Science”
Evidence: AI draft
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Ernst Mach
influenced by ✓
Einstein took from Mach’s critique of absolute space the idea that inertia depends on distant masses, which he named ‘Mach’s principle’ (‘Prinzipielles zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie’, 1918). A. Einstein, “Ernst Mach”, Physikalische Zeitschrift 17 (1916); “Prinzipielles zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie”, Annalen der Physik 55 (1918); E. Mach, Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung (1883); SEP “Ernst Mach”
Ernst Mach › 1838–1916
Influenced 6
Ernst Cassirer
influenced
Cassirer interpreted Einstein’s relativity as confirming the critical idea that physical objectivity rests on invariant relations, not substances; Einstein read the manuscript (Zur Einsteinschen Relativitätstheorie, 1921). E. Cassirer, Zur Einsteinschen Relativitätstheorie. Erkenntnistheoretische Betrachtungen (1921); T. Ryckman, The Reign of Relativity (2005); SEP “Ernst Cassirer”
Evidence: AI draft
Ernst Cassirer › 1874–1945
Moritz Schlick
influenced
Schlick gave an early philosophical account of relativity, welcomed by Einstein (Raum und Zeit in der gegenwärtigen Physik, 1917), and built his theory of knowledge on it (1918). M. Schlick, Raum und Zeit in der gegenwärtigen Physik (1917); Allgemeine Erkenntnislehre (1918); SEP “Moritz Schlick”
Evidence: AI draft
Moritz Schlick › 1882–1936
Gaston Bachelard
influenced ✓
Bachelard read Einstein’s relativity as a break with Newtonian concepts that calls for a ‘non-Cartesian’ epistemology (La Valeur inductive de la relativité, 1929; Le Nouvel Esprit scientifique, 1934). G. Bachelard, La Valeur inductive de la relativité (1929); Le Nouvel Esprit scientifique (1934); M. Tiles, Bachelard: Science and Objectivity (1984)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Gaston Bachelard › 1884–1962
Hans Reichenbach
influenced
Reichenbach, who heard Einstein’s Berlin lectures on relativity, recast Kant’s a priori as revisable coordinating principles (1920) and analysed distant simultaneity as a matter of definition (1928). H. Reichenbach, Relativitätstheorie und Erkenntnis apriori (1920); Philosophie der Raum-Zeit-Lehre (1928); SEP “Hans Reichenbach”
Evidence: AI draft
Hans Reichenbach › 1891–1953
Karl Popper
influenced ✓
Popper drew his falsifiability criterion from Einstein’s risky prediction of light deflection, tested in 1919, in contrast to Marx, Freud and Adler (Conjectures and Refutations, 1963). K. R. Popper, “Science: Conjectures and Refutations” (lecture 1953), in Conjectures and Refutations (1963); Unended Quest (1976); SEP “Karl Popper”
Karl Popper › 1902–1994
Kurt Gödel
influenced
For Einstein’s seventieth birthday Gödel found rotating-universe solutions of his field equations and argued that relativity supports an idealistic view of time (1949). K. Gödel, “An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solutions of Einstein’s Field Equations of Gravitation”, Reviews of Modern Physics 21 (1949); “A Remark about the Relationship between Relativity Theory and Idealistic Philosophy”, in P. A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949); SEP “Kurt Gödel”
Evidence: AI draft
Kurt Gödel › 1906–1978
Works
The special theory of relativity.
Position
Einstein’s theories of relativity overturned the Newtonian picture of absolute space and time: simultaneity depends on the observer, and gravity is the curvature of spacetime. This had deep philosophical consequences. The logical empiricists of the Vienna Circle and Reichenbach saw in it proof that concepts must be tied to measurement, while Popper admired how Einstein’s theory risked refutation by precise predictions. Einstein himself remained a realist who believed in a lawful, comprehensible universe and doubted that quantum mechanics was complete. He spoke of a religious feeling in the face of the order of nature, close to Spinoza’s God.
Life & context
Born in Ulm in 1879, Einstein studied in Zurich and worked at the patent office in Bern, where in 1905 he published papers on light, molecular motion and special relativity. He completed general relativity in Berlin in 1915 and received the Nobel Prize in 1921. As a Jew and pacifist he left Germany in 1933 and worked in Princeton until his death in 1955.
Further main works
- The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity (1916)
- Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (1917)
- Why War? (1933, with Sigmund Freud)
Appears in
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