Authored by: isaacf.

Originally written as a biography for my introduction to college writing course.

Albert Einstein was the greatest scientific mind of the 21st century and to date the greatest scientific mind of all time. His theories of time and general relativity have become the foundations of modern physics. He over threw the century old Newtonian theories of the universe for a more powerful unifying theory of gravitation. He was the first to state and formalize the law of the conservation of energy. His contributions to quantum theory earned him the Nobel Prize in physics. But despite all this, by studying Einstein’s scientific life, we only get half the picture. Apart from his pursuit of the “how” questions, Einstein also threw his hat in to the great ring of tradition and took a crack at the “why” questions. Einstein did his own philosophy which dealt primarily with problems in the philosophy of science or the proper method of doing science. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Einstein’s thoughts.

In his biographical work on Einstein’s private religious life Philosopher Max Jammer recounts Einstein’s first encounter with philosophical works. Young Albert attended a private Catholic school from the ages of 5 to 10. In reaction to what he learned of the Catholic faith at school, the parents, who were non-observant Jews, hired a distant relative to teach Albert about his Jewish heritage. In 1889 he was introduced to Max Talmey, a Jewish medical student at the Munich medical school who, it had been arranged by the Jewish community, would have dinner at the Einsteins’ home every Thursday. It was at these weekly meetings that Einstein’s attention was drawn to Mathematics, physics, and philosophy by the books his older friend gave to him. Such works included Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and various geometry books. Over the next six years Einstein turned away from his childhood faith in favor of more scientific endeavors and the foundations of his future were set down. (Jammer).

Just after Robert A. Thornton finished his PhD at the University of Minnesota and started his new job teaching physics in Costa Rica, Thornton wrote to Einstein on how to fix the lack of philosophy in science class rooms. Einstein replied to him (Howard):

I fully agree with you about the significance and educational value of methodology as well as history and philosophy of science. So many people today — and even professional scientists — seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is — in my opinion — the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth.

When he became a scientist Einstein retained an understanding of Philosophy that many students of the hard sciences lack. They forget that philosophy and science started off life as conjoined twins that have been separated along the way and only see each other on Thanksgiving and Easter.

Throughout his career Einstein formed relationships with several important philosophers of the time; most notably would be his friendship with the thinkers who founded logical positivitism. (Ibid.)

One of Einstein’s closest friends when he attended Zurich Polytechic was Friedrich Adler a man who was actively engaged in the theory of knowledge and political thought. The two men lived in the same building, their children played together. Alder is quoted as saying to his father that he and Einstein lived parallel lives good thing for Einstein was that Alder was wrong on this point. Alder assassinated the Minister-President of Austria’s court and was sentenced to death in 1916. Between his jail time and execution Einstein and Alder shared a shared a discussion via letters on the nature of relativity and its value. The discussion touched on such topics as the existence of a privilege frame of reference and Mach’s criticism of universals (Gailson).

Einstein also had a close personal and professional relationship with Pierre Duhem. Duhem was the first to introduce Einstein to a system known today as conventionalism. On this view laws, theories, and other principles are grounded in agreement in society. For example it is socially taboo to marry one’s first cousin in the United States, but in other places it’s perfectly fine (like Einstein would do in his later years). So in one society it’s wrong yet in another it’s acceptable (Howard second). Conventionalism had a few effects on Einstein’s own philosophy as we may see later.

Einstein elected Philipp Frank to take his place at German University of Prague when Einstein retired. Frank would later become an important member of the Vienna Circle, a group of philosophers, who under the leadership of Morit Schlizk, gathered at Vienna University. Formerly known as the Ernst Mach Society their major contribution to the world of philosophy would have been logical positivism or the theory that unless a statement can be empirically verified then it is meaningless. This thought would also come to find a place in Einstein’s system (Ubel.)

Hans Reichenbach, Ludwig Boltzmann, Moritz Schlick – all huge names in the philosophy of science in the last century and all known by Einstein. Most associated with him during his time in Munich.
Turning now to the actual content of Einstein’s system of philosophy we see that he focused on the questions in the philosophy of science. We see that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy makes the following remarks about Einstein’s system.

“Einstein’s own philosophy of science is an original synthesis of elements drawn from sources as diverse as neo-Kantianism, conventionalism, and logical empiricism, its distinctive feature being its novel blending of realism with a holist, underdeterminationist form of conventionalism. Of special note is the manner in which Einstein’s philosophical thinking was driven by and contributed to the solution of problems first encountered in his work in physics. Equally significant are Einstein’s relations with and influence on other prominent twentieth-century philosophers of science, especially Moritz Schlick and Hans Reichenbach.”

But setting aside all the technical aspects that are unintelligible to anyone outside the philosophical field of study, what were the distinguishing marks of Einstein’s work? Well, Einstein was strictly Neo-Kantan and therefore all theories had to fit within that system. Following for that thought, how did Einstein answer some of the most basic of life’s questions?

At an early age as noted Einstein was somewhere in-between a Catholic and orthodox Jew. But around age 15 he left the faith(s) as discussed above. By Einstein’s estimation there was no God in the universe. Einstein did not subscribe to theism or any God centered religion. Many have taken it upon themselves to say that he believed in Spinoza’s God. Einstein did hint at this in some places (Einstein Quotes) But in Max Jammer’s book the idea is all but refuted (Jammer). Instead Jammer shows that for Einstein God wasn’t nature like it was for Spinoza (Green). Einstein’s God was some kind of awe or wonder with which he looked at science.

For Einstein then, since there was no kind God who dictated his will to mankind, subscribed to a subjectivist theory of ethics. Einstein remarked: “ The religious feeling engendered by experiencing the logical comprehensibility of profound interrelations is of a somewhat different sort from the feeling that one usually calls religious. It is more a feeling of awe at the scheme that is manifested in the material universe. It does not lead us to take the step of fashioning a god-like being in our own image – a personage who makes demands of us and who takes an interest in us as individuals. There is in this neither a will nor a goal, nor a must, but only sheer being. For this reason, people of our type see in morality a purely human matter, albeit the most important in the human sphere.” (Hoffman) So for Einstein, since there is no God for one to devote their time and praise to and one need only look to society to discover what is moral. Einstein felt his real focus in life was to be the study of science. And that is where the real distinguishing marks of his philosophy are.

Einstein not only championed the theory of relativity but he was one of the first to offer an interpretation of metaphysics. The theory of relativity was shocking because it had the implication that time, like space, is relative; that every moment occurs at the same moment and change is nothing more than an illusion. The way Einstein set forth his theory was along the lines of what we call structural realism. That is to say Einstein thought that his mathematical equations represented reality the way it actually is.

Another idea unique to Einstein is his discernment between constructive theories and principal theories which he first published in 1919. Constructive theories are used to give a “constructive model” of the event which is to be explained where a principal theory is one that is based upon many generalizations that are supported by evidence. Noting this type of distinction has helped thinkers ever since. (Stanford)

We have seen Einstein’s exposure to philosophy as a young boy. His professional relationships with some of the best thinkers of the last century and we have briefly looked at some of his thoughts. As stated in the opening I think that if we only look at his science we only get one half of the complex and deep mind of Albert Einstein.

References
Jammer, Max. Einstein and Religion. Princeton UP, 1999. Print.
Howard, Don. “Albert Einstein as a Philosopher of Science.” World Year of Physics 2005 58.12 (2005): 34-40. Print.
Gailson, Peter. The Assassin of Relativity. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1994. Print.
Howard, Don. “Einstein and Duhem.” Synthese 83.3 (1990): 363-384. Print.
Ubel, Thomas. “Vienna Circle.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 28 Jan. 2006. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. .

“Albert Einstein Quotes.” Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com Quotations. Web. 04 Mar. 2010. .
Green, James C. “Spinoza’s God.” Wind Water. Web. .
Albert Einstein, Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman
Howard, Don A. “Einstein’s Philosophy of Science ().” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 11 Feb. 2004. Web. 04 Mar. 2010. .