Einstein Albert German Born Physicist Humanitarian (2 results)

4to. 1 page. Einstein on the value of relativity for philosophy. Einstein writes to Hans Reichenbach, the philosopher of science and an influential expositor of Relativity. In part (translation): "I am really very pleased that you want to dedicate your excellent brochure to me, but even more so that you give me such high marks as a lecturer and thinker. The value of the th.[eory] of rel.[ativity] for philosophy seems to me to be that it exposed the dubiousness of certain concepts that even in philosophy were recognized as small change. Concepts are simply empty when they stop being firmly linked to experiences. They resemble upstarts who are ashamed of their origins and want to disown them." The letter was published in the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, vol 10, doc 66, pp 323-324 (CPAE Translation, vol 10, doc 66, p 201). Slightly uneven toning, a few spots in upper margin, two-hole punch at left margin, folding creases.…

4to. 2 pp. Punch holes. On his personal letterhead. Einstein writes to Reichenbach (1891-1953), a colleague and important expositor of Relativity, to suggest to him a clearer way of explaining one aspect of his theory. He opens the letter by saying (in translation): "I think the logical presentation that you give of my theory is indeed possible, but it's not the simplest one." After providing a list of four possibilities for "increasing specialization regarding the distant comparison of vectors" he comments: "Of course one can also start with an affine connection and specialize either by introducing a metric or by introducing integrability conditions; i.e. do it the way you did. But this is less simple, less natural." He goes on to assert that "[t]he naturalness of the field of structure envisaged by me seems indisputable to me. I will only know in a few months whether this construction contains deeper traits of reality; for the problems needed to be solved to make this decision are not at all easy." The letter ends with a postscript in Einstein's hand, inviting Reichenbach and his wife to tea, noting "Schrödinger is supposed to come as well.".…