Renn Jürgen - Einstein on Einstein

1. ix
2. 155

Each of our previous books featured a canonical text by Albert Einstein around which we built a whole narrative, placing that text in its historical and scientific context. Likewise, the present book features his Autobiographical Notes, published in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist, volume 7 of The Library of Living Philosophers, a series initiated and directed by Paul A. Schilpp. We have accompanied Einsteins short autobiographical account with interpretative essays that investigate from different angles its genesis, impact, and contexts, and we have supplemented it with additional historical documents. With this book, we hope to contribute to the accessibility and appreciation of Einsteins Notes as a canonical text of modern science and philosophy.

Einsteins Autobiographical Notes represents a key document of twentieth-century thoughtone that especially illuminates the role of science in making the modern world. Like a focal lens, it collects the various thought traditions brought together in giving rise to the new physical world picture that was the result of the intellectual revolution initiated by Einstein and his peers. The essay offers a unique, introspective view of how this upheaval came about and thus constitutes a hitherto neglected counterpart to the autobiographies of politicians, writers, artists, or other actors who have played such an important role in revealing the subjective side of the tumultuous history of the twentieth century. Einsteins Autobiographical Notes is indeed an artistic document itself, taking the reader on an imaginative journey from the childhood to the last questions of the aging scientist. Even readers without any scientific background will be engrossed by Einsteins account of his dramatic life story.

The book is organized in six major parts. offers some general historical background to the genesis of the Autobiographical Notes with a special focus on the origin and scope of Schilpps monumental enterprise, The Library of Living Philosophers, and on historical developments in the year 1946, the year of writing these notes. This year marked a historical turning point: after the end of World War II, after the Holocaust, after the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and at the beginning of the Cold War. These developments had a profound effect on Einstein, on his public activities, on his writings, and on his mood. Although none of it is explicitly reflected in the Autobiographical Notes, it is worth remembering in what environment the memoir was written. In this preliminary part, we also compare Einsteins Notes with the Scientific Autobiography of Max Planck. The latter is one of many similar essays written by scientists and philosophers describing their intellectual odyssey.

Part II, the main part of the book and perhaps our most original contribution, begins with an introductory essay on the quest for a unified scientific worldview, followed by twelve essays commenting on the major themes of Einsteins text. Their goal is to unravel Einsteins convoluted narrative and to highlight his autobiographical reminiscences in their biographical context. We compare them with his perception of the different stages and chapters in his scientific life, as illustrated by his writings and correspondence at the time of their development. Conversely, we take a fresh look at his biography from the perspective of his autobiographical account.

Schilpps volume on Einstein contains, after the Autobiographical Notes, twenty-five descriptive and critical essays by other physicists and philosophers commenting on his work. In Part III, we describe Schilpps selection process and provide biographical information on the selected contributors. We then summarize and analyze Einsteins responses to their remarks. The latter supplement the Notes by shedding additional light on Einsteins scientific-philosophical worldview. We also quote from unpublished versions of his responses.

Part IV reproduces another remarkable text, Einsteins Autobiographical Sketch, written about a month before his death in 1955. It is the first time that this text has been published in English. Einstein wrote it as his contribution to the one hundredth anniversary volume of the ETH in Zurich. He agreed to do it because this would give him an opportunity to express gratitude to his personal friend and scientific collaborator Marcel Grossmann. We discuss the contents and the context of this unique document.

Einstein was the only scientist included in Schilpps Library of Living Philosophers. In Part V, the concluding section of our commentary, we attempt to show why the title Philosopher-Scientist is so appropriate.

Part VI presents a reprint of the English translation of the