The Philosophical Consequences of Relativity
Too Long; Didn't Read
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.