Einstein, the searcher : $b his work explained from dialogues with EinsteinMoszkowski, Alexander
Philosophy
Einstein, the searcher : $b his work explained from dialogues with Einstein
Moszkowski, Alexander
Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955; Relativity (Physics)
Before we deal with cases which seem to me, personally, to be
interesting, let us hear what is Einstein's attitude in general. "As
soon as a paradox presents itself, we may, as a rule, infer that
inaccurate reasoning is the cause, and should thus examine in each
particular case whether an error of logic is discoverable, or whether
the paradoxical result denotes only a violent contrast with our present
views."
Let us first take examples from an entirely modern science, from the
_Theory of Aggregates_ founded by Georg Cantor of Halle. We shall follow
the argument by the only possible method for this book, namely, by rough
indications that will serve our purpose and do not claim to be accurate
in expression or in sense.
If we take an aggregate of three objects, for example, an apple, a pear,
and a plum, we may, by definition, form six partial aggregates, namely:
the apple
the pear
the plum
the apple and the pear
the apple and the plum
the pear and the plum.
The aggregate of the partial aggregates, which contains six elements, is
thus greater than (actually twice as great as) the original aggregate,
in which only three elements occur.
If the original aggregate contains an additional element, for example, a
nut, the following partial aggregates may be formed:
the apple
the pear
the plum
the nut
the apple and the pear
the apple and the plum
the apple and the nut
the pear and the plum
the pear and the nut
the plum and the nut
the apple, the pear, and the plum
the apple, the pear, and the nut
the apple, the plum, and the nut
the pear, the plum, and the nut.
Thus, in this case, the aggregate of the partial aggregates is already
considerably greater than the original aggregate. This numerical excess
increases rapidly with each successive increase in the original
aggregate, so that if we apply the same reasoning to an infinite
aggregate, the aggregate of partial aggregates becomes an infinity of a
_higher order_. This is expressed by saying that the infinite aggregate
of partial aggregates has a greater _potentiality_ than the infinity of
the elements of the original aggregate.
So we see that the one infinity is, in popular language, much more
comprehensive, more powerful than the other. Our minds do not find it
impossible to grasp this. But in a definite imaginary experiment it is
found that this theorem of progression not only fails in its
application, but leads to flagrant contradiction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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