The Physicist and the Philosopher (ebook)

Argumento de The Physicist and the Philosopher (ebook)

"Whether or not you agree, this humane and melancholy account of how two talents misunderstood each other will linger in the mind."--New Scientist

"The Physicist and the Philosopher explores the nature of time, the meaning of relativity, and the place of philosophical thought in a scientific age. Canales aims to reposition Einstein's work in a field of disputation and give Bergson back the significance he had in his contemporaries' minds."--Cathryn Carson, University of California, Berkeley

"Like a stone cast on still waters, the Einstein-Bergson debate on the nature of time set off ever-widening ripples in physics and philosophy, but also in art, politics, and religion. In this fascinating book, Canales has written a kind of alternative intellectual history of the interwar decades of the twentieth century, one full of color and improbable conjunctions of people and ideas."--Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

"Is time too important to be left to the physicists and their measuring devices? That was the issue at stake in a 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and philosopher Henri Bergson, celebrated at the time and wonderfully recovered in Jimena Canales’s new book. A fascinating look at a pivotal moment in how we think about one of the most fundamental features of the universe."--Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time

"Sometimes past battles have repercussions that resonate long after memories have faded. In dramatic fashion, Jimena Canales demonstrates how a seemingly forgotten debate between Einstein and Bergson about the enigma of time changed the course of intellectual history."--Palle Yourgrau, Brandeis University

"Whether readers side with Einstein’s physics or Bergson’s philosophy isn’t the most important thing: this book opens up new ways of thinking about the relationship between science and the humanities that unsettle both."--Gerald Holton, Harvard University

"This exciting, hugely interesting book opens out from a short but critical encounter between the philosopher Henri Bergson and the physicist Albert Einstein to consider their philosophies and the effects of their argument on the modern idea of time. Canales turns what is at first sight a limited debate into a major transatlantic encounter of profound implications. Well-researched, well-argued, and elegant, The Physicist and the Philosopher is a first-rate work of scholarship."--Stefanos Geroulanos, New York University

"The Physicist and the Philosopher is a lively and engaging account of the meaning of time in the twentieth century. Canales uses the 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson as a starting point from which to discuss an astonishing array of thinkers, technologies, and cultural developments. The book is an innovative, rich, and almost encyclopedic exploration of a crucially important question."--Edward Baring, author of The Young Derrida and French Philosophy, 1945–1968

"[Canales] weaves a tale around Europe and to America. . . . [Her] subject raises important core philosophical issues, like the scope of philosophy itself."--Michael Ruse, The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Sparks--both incendiary and illuminating--fly from the collision of two giants!"--Booklist, starred review

"In illuminating a historic 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time, Canales marks a turning point in the power of philosophy to influence science."--Publishers Weekly

"The Physicist and the Philosopher . . . is at least three things: a monument to precise scholarship, an exemplar of logical clarity, and a fine example of excellent writing. I have rarely learned more from a book."Peter A.Y. Gunter, Physics in Perspective

"Brilliant."--James Gleick, Bits in the Ether

"A masterwork of cultural forensics."--Maria Popova, Brainpickings

"[General and professional readers] will learn much from a study that is accessible and edifying to a great diversity of readers."--Choice

"This fascinating book traces a debate about the nature of time. . . . Canales has done a masterful job of research and explication. Her account of the debate is lively, the background of it is interesting, and the debate’s ramifications as filtered through other minds are downright exciting. Anyone interested in physics or philosophy will have a field day with this book."--Kelly Cherry, The Smart Set

"A book remarkable both for its profound research and for its elegance in presentation. Intellectual history should always be so accessible."--Benjamin Franklin Martin, Key Reporter

"This fascinating, scholarly, readable look at physics and epistemology will interest readers of science, history, philosophy, and biography."--Library Journal, starred review

One of Science Friday’s Best Science Books of 2015, chosen by Maria Popova
One of The Independent.ie Irish Writers’ Top Reads 2015
One of Brainpickings’ The Best Science Books of 2015

"Canales does sterling work investigating these engagements . . . [A] stimulating book."--Graham Farmelo, Nature

"In The Physicist and the Philosopher, Canales recounts how Bergson challenged Einstein’s theories, arguing that time is not a fourth dimension definable by scientists but a 'vital impulse,' the source of creativity. It was an incendiary topic at the time, and it shaped a split between science and humanities that persisted for decades--though Einstein was generally seen as the winner and Bergson is all but forgotten."--Nancy Szokan, Washington Post0Preface vii
PART 1. THE DEBATE
CHAPTER 1 Untimely 3
CHAPTER 2 "More Einsteinian than Einstein" 16
CHAPTER 3 Science or Philosophy? 38
PART 2. THE MEN
CHAPTER 4 The Twin Paradox 53
CHAPTER 5 Bergson's Achilles' Heel 62
CHAPTER 6 Worth Mentioning? 73
CHAPTER 7 Bergson Writes to Lorentz 87
CHAPTER 8 Bergson Meets Michelson 98
CHAPTER 9 The Debate Spreads 114
CHAPTER 10 Back from Paris 131
CHAPTER 11 Two Months Later 139
CHAPTER 12 Logical Positivism 153
CHAPTER 13 The Immediate Aftermath 162
CHAPTER 14 An Imaginary Dialogue 172
CHAPTER 15 "Full-Blooded" Time 179
CHAPTER 16 The Previous Spring 195
CHAPTER 17 The Church 203
CHAPTER 18 The End of Universal Time 218
CHAPTER 19 Quantum Mechanics 230
PART 3. THE THINGS
CHAPTER 20 Things 241
CHAPTER 21 Clocks and Wristwatches 252
CHAPTER 22 Telegraph, Telephone, and Radio 265
CHAPTER 23 Atoms and Molecules 274
CHAPTER 24 Einstein's Films: Reversible 283
CHAPTER 25 Bergson's Movies: Out of Control 292
CHAPTER 26 Microbes and Ghosts 303
CHAPTER 27 One New Point: Recording Devices 315
PART 4. THE WORDS
CHAPTER 28 Bergson's Last Comments 327
CHAPTER 29 Einstein's Last Thoughts 337
Postface 349
Acknowledgments 359
Notes 363
Bibliography 423
Index 451