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On Einstein's Invention of Special Relativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Arthur I. Miller
Arthur I. Miller*
Affiliation:
University of Lowell & Harvard University
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Extract

Albert Einstein distinguished sharply between the context of discovery and the context of invention. For example, in a letter of 6 January 1948 to Michele Besso, Einstein wrote:

Mach's weakness, as I see it , lies in the fact that he believed more or less strongly, that science consists merely of putting experimental results in order; that is, he did not recognize the free constructive element in the creation of a concept. He thought that somehow theories arise by means of discovery [durch Entdeckung] and not by means of invention [nicht durch Erfindung]. (1972, p. 391, italics in original).

By “invention” Einstein meant the mind's ability to leap across what he took to be the essential abyss between perceptions and data on the one side in order to create concepts and axioms on the other. Although sometimes Einstein interchanged the terms discovery and invention, he deemed invention to be the route of creative scientific thinking.

Type
Part VIII. Einstein's Discovery/Invention Of Special Relativity
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 376 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 Philosophy of Science Association

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