Einstein

摘要

Canales, Jimena. The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time. Princeton Univ. Jun. 2015. 464p. notes, bibliog. ISBN 9780691165349. $35. Canales, who has written about time before in A Tenth of a Second: A History, takes an absorbing approach to a scientific history. Beginning with scientist Albert Einstein's and philosopher Henri Bergson's April 6, 1922, debate at the Societe Franchise de Philosophie that turned acrimonious, the author radiates the narrative forward and backward to discuss how humankind's perception of time changed in the 20th century. The well-researched text brings in a number of famous and other personages, including Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Herbert Dingle, and Jacque Maritain, and where they stood on the Einstein/Bergson conflict, which became a key representation of how science and philosophy were in opposition over the meanings of time, space, and life. This dualism had a worldwide impact on education and culture, and only recently, especially in quantum physics, have we seen objectivity and subjectivity as points on a continuum not inherently in conflict. VERDICT This fascinating, scholarly, readable look at physics and epistemology will interest readers of science, history, philosophy, and biography.