The Kantian Grounding of Einstein's Worldview
Polish Journal of Philosophy 4 (1):45-64 (2010)
| Abstract | Recent perspectival interpretations of Kant suggest a way of relating his epistemology to empirical science that makes it plausible to regard Einstein’stheory of relativity as having a Kantian grounding. This first of two articles exploring this topic focuses on how the foregoing hypothesis accounts for variousresonances between Kant’s philosophy and Einstein’s science. The great attention young Einstein paid to Kant in his early intellectual development demonstrates the plausibility of this hypothesis, while certain features of Einstein’s cultural-political context account for his reluctance to acknowledge Kant’s influence, even though contemporary philosophers who regarded themselves as Kantians urged him to do so. The sequel argues that this Kantian grounding probably had a formative influence not only on Einstein’s discovery of the theory of relativity and his view of the nature of science, but also on his quasi-mystical, religious disposition | |||||||||
| 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: 5,653 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesFriedel Weinert (2005). Einstein and Kant. Philosophy 80 (4):585-593.
Steven Gimbel (2012). Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion. Johns Hopkins University Press.
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.
Don Howard (1990). Einstein and Duhem. Synthese 83 (3):363 - 384.
Hao Wang (1995). Time in Philosophy and in Physics: From Kant and Einstein to Gödel. Synthese 102 (2):215 - 234.
Robert Neidorf (1963). Is Einstein a Positivist? Philosophy of Science 30 (2):173-188.
Jeroen van Dongen (2010). Einstein's Unification. Cambridge University Press.
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.
Gary Gutting (1972). Einstein's Discovery of Special Relativity. Philosophy of Science 39 (1):51-68.
Robert Deltete & Reed Guy (1991). Einstein and EPR. Philosophy of Science 58 (3):377-397.
Gideon Engler (2005). Einstein, His Theories, and His Aesthetic Considerations. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19 (1):21 – 30.
Carlo Penco (2010). The Influence of Einstein on Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Philosophical Investigations 33 (4):360-379.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-01-09Total downloads4 ( #178,473 of 548,984 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,327 of 548,984 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
