more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Einstein's interpretation of special relativity was operationalist in spirit (in marked contrast to the interpretation he gave to general relativity).
Clarification
Operationalism only concerns what works, not what is true
Gist of Idea
Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit
Source
comment on Albert Einstein (works [1915]) by Hilary Putnam - Reason, Truth and History Ch.5
Book Ref
Putnam,Hilary: 'Reason, Truth and History' [CUP 1998], p.124
A Reaction
The late twentieth century was polluted with daft relativism, and I hold Einstein partly responsible, suspecting that he was a bad philosopher. The later development of Einstein's view noted here is interesting.
| 18982 | Pragmatism says all theories are instrumental - that is, mental modes of adaptation to reality [James] |
| 18985 | True thoughts are just valuable instruments of action [James] |
| 7621 | Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit [Putnam on Einstein] |
| 13940 | All linguistic forms in science are merely judged by their efficiency as instruments [Carnap] |
| 17665 | The 'Tractatus' is instrumentalist about laws of nature [Wittgenstein, by Armstrong] |
| 17658 | Users of digital thermometers recognise no temperatures in the gaps [Goodman] |
| 4713 | For Quine, theories are instruments used to make predictions about observations [Quine, by O'Grady] |
| 13067 | For the instrumentalists there are no scientific explanations [Salmon] |
| 14204 | Naïve operationalism would have meanings change every time the tests change [Putnam] |
| 16057 | Instrumentalism normally says some discourse is useful, but not genuinely true [Horgan,T] |
| 17704 | Operationalism defines concepts by our ways of measuring them [Mares] |
| 6778 | Instrumentalists regard theories as tools for prediction, with truth being irrelevant [Bird] |
| 22196 | For most scientists their concepts are not just useful, but are meant to be true and accurate [Gorham] |
| 22197 | Theories aren't just for organising present experience if they concern the past or future [Gorham] |