The philosophical consequences of relativity are neither so great nor
so startling as is sometimes thought. It throws very little light on
time-honored controversies, such as that between realism and idealism.
Some people think that it supports Kant’s view that space and time are
“subjective” and are “forms of intuition.” I think such people have
been misled by the way in which writers on relativity speak of “the
observer.” It is natural to suppose that the observer is a human being,
or at least a mind; but he is just as likely to be a photographic
plate or a clock. That is to say, the odd results as to the difference
between one “point of view” and another are concerned with “point of
view” in a sense applicable to physical instruments just as much as to
people with perceptions. The “subjectivity” concerned in the theory of
relativity is a _physical_ subjectivity, which would exist equally if
there were no such things as minds or senses in the world.
Moreover, it is a strictly limited subjectivity. The theory does
not say that _everything_ is relative; on the contrary, it gives a
technique for distinguishing what is relative from what belongs to a
physical occurrence in its own right. If we are going to say that the
theory supports Kant about space and time, we shall have to say that it
refutes him about space-time. In my view, neither statement is correct.
I see no reason why, on such issues, philosophers should not all stick
to the views they previously held. There were no conclusive arguments
on either side before, and there are none now; to hold either view
shows a dogmatic rather than a scientific temper.
Nevertheless, when the ideas involved in Einstein’s work have become
familiar, as they will when they are taught in schools, certain changes
in our habits of thought are likely to result, and to have great
importance in the long run.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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