INTRODUCTION
TO VOLUME
2
XXV
Analyse
der
Empfindungen[44]
and
Mechanik,[45]
Mill's
Logic,[46]
Hume's
A
Treatise
of
Human
Nature,[47]
Spinoza's
Ethics,[48]
several
unspecified
memoirs
and lectures
by
Helmholtz,[49]
several
chapters
of
Ampere's
L'essai
sur
la
philo-
sophie
des
sciences,[50]
Riemann's "Ueber
die
Hypothesen,
welche der Geometrie
zu
Grunde
liegen,"[51]
several
chapters
of Avenarius's
Kritik
der reinen
Erfahrung,[52]
Clifford's "On
the Nature
of
Things-in-Themselves,"[53]
Dede-
kind's
Was
sind
und
was
sollen die
Zahlen?,[54]
and
Poincare's
La science
et
l'hypothese.[55]
By directing
Einstein's
attention
to
the
problem
of
the formation
of
scientific
concepts (such as
the
concepts
of
space
and
time),
to the role
of
conventions in
scientific
thought
(such
as
that
required
for
defining
the
simultaneity
of
distant
events), and
to
the
place
of
formal
principles
in the
structure
of
scientific theories
(such
as
the
principle
of
relativity),[56]
to
name
only
a
few relevant
topics,
his
foundational
readings helped
to
prepare
him for the task
of
revising
the kinemati-
cal foundations
of
physics.
Einstein considered the
theory
of
relativity only a
first
step
toward
a satisfactory
resolution
of
the difficulties
facing physics,
toward
"a
complete
world view that
is
in
accord with the
principle
of
relativity"
("ein
vollständiges,
dem Relati-
vitätsprinzip entsprechendes
Weltbild").[57]
He stated that
The
theory
of
relativity
is just
as
little
ultimately satisfactory
as,
for
example,
classical
thermodynamics
was
before Boltzmann had inter-
[44]
Three editions
came
out within
a
few
years
of
the
founding
of
the
Olympia
Academy:
Mach
1900a, 1902,
and 1903.
[45]
For
Einstein's
earlier
reading
of
Mach,
see
note
38. The
Olympia Academy
members
may
have used the fourth
or
fifth
editions,
Mach
1901,
1904.
[46]
The 8th
edition,
Mill
1872,
was
translated
into German twice
(see
Mill
1877,
1884-1887).
[47]
The first
part
of
Hume 1739
was
translated
as
Hume 1895.
[48] Spinoza
1677. Einstein
may
have used
one
of
several German
translations,
possibly Spi-
noza
1887
or
1893.
[49]
Helmholtz's
scientific
papers are reprinted
in three volumes: Helmholtz
1882, 1883, 1895;
the
epistemological papers are
included
in
Helmholtz 1883. His
more popular writings are
printed
in Helmholtz 1884. For evidence
of
Ein-
stein's earlier
reading
of
Helmholtz,
see
Einstein
to
Mileva
Maric,
early August
1899 and
10
Au-
gust
1899
(Vol. 1,
Docs. 50 and
52).
[50]
Ampere
1834.
[51]
Riemann 1854.
[52]
Avenarius
1888,
1890.
[53]
Clifford's
essay
was
issued in German
as
a
book,
Clifford
1903,
which Einstein
presum-
ably
used.
[54]
Dedekind
1893.
[55]
Poincare
1902. Einstein
may
have used
the German
edition,
Poincare
1904a.
[56] It is
well known that elements
of
Ein-
stein's
distinction between
principle
and
con-
structive theories
occur
in
Poincare's
writings
(see,
e.g.,
Poincare
1904b).
Two
other
sources
that
may
have influenced
Einstein's
emphasis on
the role
of
principles
in
physics are
Violle,
whose textbook Einstein studied
(see
Vol.
1,
"Albert
Einstein-Beitrag für sein Lebens-
bild,"
p.
lxiv),
and Alfred
Kleiner,
with whom
Einstein had been in
contact
since
1901
when he
began
to
discuss
physics
with him
(see
Einstein
to Mileva Maric,
19
December
1901,
Vol.
1,
Doc.
130).
For
Violle's
comments
on
the role of
principles,
see
Violle
1892,
p.
90;
for
Kleiner's
comments,
see, e.g.,
Kleiner
1901,
pp.
21-23.
[57]
Einstein
1907h
(Doc.
45),
p.
372.