Albert Einstein: Dialectical Materialism and the Theory of Relativity (eBook)

Description

The relationship of materialist philosophy and natural science is an inner necessary condition of their development. From the time of their rise philosophy and natural science have been inseparable links in the chain of understanding the objective world. Science developed under the influence of philosophical knowledge. Philosophical science in turn could not develop a priori, without connection with reality.

At each stage of the development of knowledge the forms of this interaction have altered. The fullness and depth of the connections reflect the degree of philosophical analysis of the problems of natural science.

The theory of relativity is one of the most fundamental theories of nature that still, at the present time, calls for further philosophical substantiation. Its mathematical and physical aspects do not give rise to any substantial disagreements among researchers. It has a leading position by right among the achievements of the advanced physical thought of the twentieth century. It has had broad application in many experimental programmes. As regards its philosophical significance, however, especially as regards Einstein’s outlook, the polemic in the world literature has not died down; and is characterised by the most contradictory and mutually exclusive appraisals. Einstein’s ideas were sometimes linked with the most improbable philosophical conceptions.