Einstein, Physics and Reality

The following sections are included:

• About the Author

• Contents

• Preface

In An Interview with Einstein, made two weeks before Einstein died in April 1955, the interviewer noted: ‘Einstein said that at the beginning of the century only a few scientists had been philosophically minded, but today physicists are almost all philosophers, although “they are apt to be bad philosophers.” He pointed as an example to logical positivism, which he felt was a kind of philosophy that came out of physics.’¹ In his later years, in particular those following the creation of ideal gas statistics in 1924–25, Einstein did not work actively in the field of quantum theory. He concentrated on the generalization of the field theory of gravitation and on efforts to unify the theories of general relativity and Maxwell's electrodynamics. Moreover, he seemed to have taken a hostile point of view towards the developing and successful quantum mechanics. On many occasions Einstein acted as the principal opponent, in particular to the philosophical consequences that flowed from the new quantum theory. His epistemological discussions with Niels Bohr and Max Born might be counted among the greatest dialogues in the history of science, which raised some very fundamental questions. Yet Einstein could not agree with the answers he obtained. Not only did his later work on general relativity and unified field theory alienate him from most of the contemporary, especially the younger, physicists, but their criticism also concentrated on points which appeared to be secondary to Einstein — such as the questions of statistics and detailed determinacy. Thus he finally resigned himself to his critics with the following statement: ‘It is my opinion that the contemporary quantum theory, by means of certain definitely laid basic concepts, which on the whole have been taken over from classical mechanics, constitutes an optimum formulation of the conceptions. I believe, however, that this theory offers no useful point of departure for future development. This is the point at which my expectations depart most widely from that of contemporary physicists’²…

The following sections are included:

• The Bohr–Sommerfeld Atom

• Physics and the Correspondence Principle

• Quantum Mechanics

• Wave Mechanics

• The Interpretation of Microphysics
  • The Probability hterpretation of the Wave Function
  • The Uncertainty Relations

The following sections are included:

• Einstein's Early Readings

• The Basic Principles in Einstein's Early Work

• The Discussion of the light-Quantum with Niels Bohr

• Does Field Theory Present Possibilities for the Solution of the Quantum Problem?
  • A New Heuristic Viewpoint
  • Foundations of the Theory of Gravitation
  • Towards the Unified Field Theory

The following sections are included:

• The Real Schrödinger Equation

• On the Uncertainty Relation

• Are There Quantum Jumps?

The following sections are included:

• The Fifth Solvay Conference (1927)

• The Discussions on Epistemological Problems

• Bohr's Principle of Complementarity and the Copenhagen School

The following sections are included:

• ‘Knowledge of Past and Future in Quantum Mechanics’

• The Completeness Problem

• Physics and Reality

• Quantum Mechanics and Reality

The following sections are included:

• The ‘Statistical’ Einstein

• Einstein's last Discussion About Statistical Causality and Determinism

The following sections are included:

• The Heuristic Points of View

• The Economy of Thought

• ‘Theories Are Free Inventions of the Mind’

• Between Scylla and Charybdis

• Presuppositions and Anticipations

• Intuition and Experience

• What Is Reality?

• Description and Reality

• Science and Hypothesis

The following sections are included:

• Notes and References