The Physicist and the Philosopher

The Physicist and the Philosopher
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 488
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400865772
ISBN-13 : 1400865778
Rating : 4/5 (778 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Physicist and the Philosopher by : Jimena Canales

Download or read book The Physicist and the Philosopher written by Jimena Canales and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The explosive debate that transformed our views about time and scientific truth On April 6, 1922, in Paris, Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson publicly debated the nature of time. Einstein considered Bergson's theory of time to be a soft, psychological notion, irreconcilable with the quantitative realities of physics. Bergson, who gained fame as a philosopher by arguing that time should not be understood exclusively through the lens of science, criticized Einstein's theory of time for being a metaphysics grafted on to science, one that ignored the intuitive aspects of time. The Physicist and the Philosopher tells the remarkable story of how this explosive debate transformed our understanding of time and drove a rift between science and the humanities that persists today. Jimena Canales introduces readers to the revolutionary ideas of Einstein and Bergson, describes how they dramatically collided in Paris, and traces how this clash of worldviews reverberated across the twentieth century. She shows how it provoked responses from figures such as Bertrand Russell and Martin Heidegger, and carried repercussions for American pragmatism, logical positivism, phenomenology, and quantum mechanics. Canales explains how the new technologies of the period—such as wristwatches, radio, and film—helped to shape people’s conceptions of time and further polarized the public debate. She also discusses how Bergson and Einstein, toward the end of their lives, each reflected on his rival’s legacy—Bergson during the Nazi occupation of Paris and Einstein in the context of the first hydrogen bomb explosion. The Physicist and the Philosopher is a magisterial and revealing account that shows how scientific truth was placed on trial in a divided century marked by a new sense of time.


The Physicist and the Philosopher Related Books

The Physicist and the Philosopher
Language: en
Pages: 488
Authors: Jimena Canales
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-06-09 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The explosive debate that transformed our views about time and scientific truth On April 6, 1922, in Paris, Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson publicly debated t
Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity
Language: en
Pages: 311
Authors: William Lane Craig
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-11-08 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity is an anthology of original essays by an international team of leading philosophers and physicists who have come
Was Einstein Right?
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Clifford M. Will
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1993-06-02 - Publisher: Basic Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Looks at how scientists have tested Einstein's theory during the past seventy years, and demonstrates how this theory is crucial to understanding such features
Albert Einstein
Language: en
Pages: 162
Authors: Walter Isaacson
Categories: Young Adult Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-07-15 - Publisher: 'The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc'

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Even the youngest science enthusiasts know the name “Einstein.” To them, it represents intelligence and ingenuity. But they may not know much about Albert E
Philosophers and Einstein's Relativity
Language: en
Pages: 207
Authors: Chiara Russo Krauss
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-09-30 - Publisher: Springer Nature

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book offers an up-to-date insight into the early philosophical debate on Einsteinian relativity. The essays explore the reception and interpretation of Ein