Einstein's discovery of special relativity
Philosophy of Science 39 (1):51-68 (1972)
| Abstract | This paper discusses the controversy between philosophers of science (e.g. Grünbaum) and historians of science (e.g. Holton) regarding Einstein's discovery of STR. Although Holton is surely correct on the historical point that experimental results (especially the Michelson-Morley experiment) had little influence on Einstein's development of STR, this fact is not sufficient to establish his (and Polanyi's) claim that major scientific discoveries are primarily matters of private, nonspecifiable insights into physical reality. It is possible that Einstein's work was based primarily on non-empirical but nonetheless publicly discussable, objective considerations. And a more comprehensive survey of the discovery of STR shows that this was indeed the case and thus excludes STR as a supporting instance of Holton's and Polanyi's assertions of the primacy of "private science." | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAndrea Cerroni (2002). Discovering Relativity Beliefs: Towards a Socio-Cognitive Model for Einstein's Relativity Theory Formation. Mind and Society 3 (1):93-109.
Stephen Palmquist (2010). The Kantian Grounding of Einstein's Worldview. Polish Journal of Philosophy 4 (1):45-64.
D. J. (2000). `Nature is the Realisation of the Simplest Conceivable Mathematical Ideas': Einstein and the Canon of Mathematical Simplicity. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B 31 (2):135-170.
John D. Norton (2009). How Hume and Mach Helped Einstein Find Special Relativity. In Michael Friedman, Mary Domski & Michael Dickson (eds.), Discourse on a New Method: Reinvigorating the Marriage of History and Philosophy of Science. Open Court.
Gerald Holton (1992). Michael Polanyi and the History of Science. Tradition and Discovery 19 (1):16-30.
Gideon Engler (2005). Einstein, His Theories, and His Aesthetic Considerations. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19 (1):21 – 30.
Abraham Ungar (1986). The Lorentz Transformation Group of the Special Theory of Relativity Without Einstein's Isotropy Convention. Philosophy of Science 53 (3):395-402.
Nicholas Maxwell (1993). Induction and Scientific Realism: Einstein Versus Van Fraassen Part Three: Einstein, Aim-Oriented Empiricism and the Discovery of Special and General Relativity. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 (2):275-305.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads10 ( #106,476 of 549,694 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
