Space and Time in Contemporary Physics: An Introduction to the Theory of Relativity And Gravitation (Great Minds) - Softcover

Moritz Schlick; Henry Leopold Brose; F. A. Lindeman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159102417X ISBN 13: 9781591024170

Publisher: Prometheus, 2006

Synopsis

This is one of the clearest expositions in layperson's terms of Einstein's theory of relativity and its paradigm-shifting implications for philosophy and commonsense notions of reality. Moritz Schlick, the influential German philosopher and leader of the positivist school of philosophy known as the Vienna Circle, wrote this short work in 1919 specifically to introduce readers unfamiliar with Einstein's theories to the profound importance of the physicist's immense contributions. Einstein himself reviewed Schlick's work before publication and is thanked in the preface for "giving me many useful hints." With a talent for illustrative analogies and a concise, lucid style of presentation, Schlick explains both the special and the general theories of relativity. Beginning with the older Newtonian view of space, time, and the laws governing matter, the author proceeds to show how Einstein's theories solved certain problems inherent in the old view and provided a radical new conception of reality. Separate chapters discuss the special principle of relativity, the geometrical relativity of space, the mathematical formulation of special relativity, the inseparability of geometry and physics in experience, the relativity of motions and the connection with inertia and gravitation, the general theory of relativity, the significance of Einstein's fundamental new law, the finitude of the universe, and the impact of Einstein's ideas on philosophy. Since their original publication, numerous experiments have confirmed Einstein's ideas. Thus, Schlick's work continues to be a valuable and highly accessible explication of one of science's most enduring achievements.

About this title

About the Author

Moritz Schlick, a German philosopher and the founding father of logical positivism, was born in Berlin to a wealthy family on April 14, 1882. He studied physics at Heidelberg, Lausanne, and, ultimately, the University of Berlin under Max Planck. In 1904 he completed his dissertation essay, "On the Reflection of Light in a Non-Homogenous Medium." In 1908 he published The Wisdom of Life, a volume about eudaemonism, the theory that happiness is the highest ethical pursuit. Schlick then turned his attention to problems of epistemology, the philosophy of science, and more general questions about science. He distinguished himself by publishing a 1915 paper on Einstein's special theory of relativity, a topic barely ten years old. Space and Time in Contemporary Physics was published in 1919.

Schlick became a professor in the philosophy of inductive sciences at the University of Vienna in 1922. That same year, a group of scientists and philosophers--including Rudolf Carnap, Herbert Feigl, Kurt Gödel, Hans Hahn, Otto Neurath, and Friedrich Waismann--suggested to Schlick that they meet regularly to discuss science and philosophy. Although they initially called themselves the Ernst Mach Association, they have been more commonly known as the Vienna Circle. The circle drew on the work of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein as they were united by their hostility toward abstractions of metaphysics and their belief in grounding philosophical statements on empirical evidence. The reputation of the circle grew around the world as it published journal articles and books, including The Scientific View of the World: The Vienna Circle--a tribute to Schlick. With the rise of Nazism in Germany and Austria, however, many of the Vienna Circle's members left for the United States and the United Kingdom, but Schlick remained at the University of Vienna.

On June 22, 1936, Schick was climbing some steps as he walked to class when he was confronted by a former student, Johann Nelböck, who drew a pistol and shot Schlick in the chest. He died shortly afterward. Without Schlick, the Vienna Circle ceased meeting.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Space and Time in Contemporary Physics

an introduction to The Theory of Relativity and GravitationBy MORITZ SCHLICK

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2007 Moritz Schlick
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59102-417-0

Contents

I. From Newton to Einstein..............................................................................................17II. The Special Principle of Relativity.................................................................................23III. The Geometrical Relativity of Space................................................................................37IV. The Mathematical Formulation of Spatial Relativity..................................................................43V. The Inseparability of Geometry and Physics in Experience.............................................................47VI. The Relativity of Motions and its Connexion with Inertia and Gravitation............................................51VII. The General Postulate of Relativity and the Measure-Determinations of the Space-time Continuum.....................59VIII. Enunciation and Significance of the Fundamental Law of the New Theory.............................................69IX The Finitude of the Universe.........................................................................................79X. Relations to Philosophy..............................................................................................87INDEX...................................................................................................................97

Chapter One

From Newton to Einstein

At the present day physical research has reached such a degree of generalization of its first principles, and its standpoint has attained to such truly philosophic heights, that all previous achievements of scientific thought are left far behind. Physics has ascended to summits hitherto visible only to philosophers, whose gaze has, however, not always been free from metaphysical haziness. Albert Einstein is the guide who has directed us along a practicable path leading to these summits. Employing an astoundingly ingenious analysis, he has purged the most fundamental conceptions of natural science by removing all the prejudices which have for centuries past remained undetected in them: thus revealing entirely new points of view, and building up a physical theory upon a basis which can be verified by actual observation. The fact that the refinement of the conceptions, by a critical examination of them from the viewpoint of the theory of knowledge, is simultaneously combined with the physical application which immediately made his ideas experimentally verifiable, is perhaps the most noteworthy feature of his achievement: and it would be remarkable, even if the problem with which he was able to grapple by using these weapons had not happened to be gravitation-that riddle of physics which so obstinately resisted all efforts to read it, and the solution of which must of necessity afford us glimpses into the inner structure of the universe.

The most fundamental conceptions in physics are those of Space and Time. The unrivalled achievements in research, which in past centuries have enriched our knowledge of physical nature, left these underlying conceptions untouched until the year 1905. The efforts of physicists had always been directed solely at the substratum which occupied space and time: they had taught us to know, more and more accurately, the constitution of matter and the law of events which ocurred in what had been expressed the `aether'. Space and Time were regarded, so to speak, as vessels containing this substratum and furnishing fixed systems of reference, with the help of which the mutual relations between bodies and events had to be determined: in short, they actually played the part which Newton had set down for them in the well-known words: `Absolute, true and mathematical time flows in virtue of its own nature uniformly and without reference to any external object': and `absolute space by virtue of its own nature and without reference to any external object, always remains the same and is immovable'.

From the standpoint of the theory of knowledge, the objection was quite early raised against Newton, that there was no meaning in the terms Space and Time as used without `reference to an object'; but, for the time being, physics had no cause to trouble about these questions: it merely sought to explain observed phenomena in the usual way, by refining and modifying its ideas of the constitution and consistent behaviour of matter and the `aether'.

An example of this method is the hypothesis which was put forward by H. A. Lorentz and Fitzgerald, that every body which is in motion relatively to the aether is subject to a definite contraction along the direction of motion (the so-called Lorentz-contraction), which depends upon the velocity of the body. This hypothesis was set up in order to explain why it seemed impossible to detect `absolute' rectilinear motion of our instruments by means of the experiment of Michelson and Morley (which will be discussed below), whereas, according to the prevalent physical ideas of the time, this should have been possible. The whole trend of physical discovery made it evident that this hypothesis would not be permanently satisfactory (as we shall see immediately), and this meant that the time was come when the consideration of motion in physics had to be founded on reflections of a philosophic nature. For Einstein recognized that there is a much simpler way of explaining from first principles the negative result of Michelson and Morley's experiment. No special physical hypothesis at all is required. It is only necessary to recognize the principle of relativity, according to which a rectilinear uniform `absolute' motion can never be detected, and the fact that the conception of motion has only a physical meaning when referred to a material body of reference. He saw also that a critical examination of the assumptions upon which our space- and time-measurements have hitherto been tacitly founded is necessary. Amongst these unnecessary and unwarrantable assumptions were found, e.g. those which concerned the absolute significance of such space- and time-conceptions as `length', `simultaneity', &c. If these assumptions are dropped, the result of Michelson and Morley's experiment appears self-evident, and on the ground thus cleared is constructed a physical theory of wonderful completeness, which develops the consequences of he above fundamental principle; it is called the `special theory of relativity, because, according to it, the relativity of motions is valid only for the special case of uniform rectilinear motion.

The special principle of relativity indeed takes one considerably beyond the Newtonian conceptions of Space and Time (as will be seen from the short account in the next chapter), but does not fully satisfy the philosophic mind, inasmuch as this restricted theory is only valid for uniform rectilinear motions. From the philosophic standpoint it is desirable to be able to affirm that every motion is relative, i.e. not the particular class of uniform translations only. According to the special theory, irregular motions would, still be absolute in character; in discussing them we could not avoid speaking of Space and Time `without reference to an object'.

But since the year 1905, when Einstein set up the special principle of relativity for the whole realm of physics, and not for mechanics alone, he has striven to formulate a generalized principle which is valid not only for uniform rectilinear motions, but also for any arbitrary motion whatsoever. These endeavours were brought to a happy conclusion in 1915, being crowned with complete success. They led to such an extreme degree of relativization of all space- and time-determinations that it seems impossible to extend it any further; these space- and time-determinations will henceforth be inseparably connected with matter, and will have meaning only when referred to it. Moreover, they lead to a new theory of gravitational phenomena which takes physics very far beyond that of Newton. Space, time, and gravitation play in Einstein's physics a part fundamentally, different from that assigned to them by Newton.

The importance of these results, in their bearing upon the underlying principles of natural philosophy, is so stupendous that even those who have only a modest interest in physics or the theory of knowledge cannot afford to pass them by. One has to delve deep into the history of science to discover theoretical achievements worthy to rank with them. The discovery of Copernicus might suggest itself to the mind; and if Einstein's results do not exert as great an influence on the worldview of people in general as the Copernican revolution, their importance as affecting the purely theoretical picture of the world is correspondingly greater, inasmuch as the deepest foundations of our knowledge concerning physical nature have to be remodelled much more radically than after the discovery of Copernicus.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 159102417X
• ISBN 13: 9781591024170
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 102