D O C U M E N T 2 8 4 O C T O B E R 1 9 2 8 2 8 1 1. Is your work, on the whole, more directed toward the production of new indi- vidual results, the collection, arrangement, and presentation of results, or logical elaboration with a view toward forming a theory? 2. When you undertake a project, what occasions play a role? (contracts with publishers, lectures, courses, etc. In what way can these occasions accelerate or delay your work?) 3. Do your ideas arise more from a wish to fill an existing gap in knowledge, or more from a wish to correct a false conception that is still considered valid? 4. Are you interested more in methodology or more in the substantial result of the work? That is, are the methods of your work new and unique, formed and pre- sented in such a way that you expect that valuable results may be found by others following the path that you have taken? Or do you consider the substantial results of your work to be the essential point? 5. How do you proceed when you first have an idea for a new work? In general, does one such cause suffice, or are several similarly oriented causes necessary, which taken together become the motivation for a work? 6. How are the following factors related to your creativity: a) intentional (goal-oriented) and conscious intellectual work b) unintentional (goal-less) but nonetheless conscious c) subconscious? And to what extent does the way you organize your work take these different factors into account? 7. Are there situations that are especially or exclusively suited for the foregoing processes? 8. Do you think that there are intrinsic relationships between artistic imagination and that of scientists? 284. From Hans Reichenbach Schützstr. 45, Berlin-Zehlendorf, 17 October 1928 Dear Mr. Einstein, I have considered your new work on the field theory[1] and found that the geo- metrical structure can better be represented in a different form. I have enclosed the manuscript here.[2] As to its physical applications, your work has, speaking frankly, failed to con- vince me. If there must be a geometrical interpretation, then in the end I find my approach, in which the straightest lines at least mean something, more beautiful. Or do you still see some prospects for your new approach?[3] With kind regards, your Hans Reichenbach
Previous Page Next Page