Philosophy of general relativity. Philosophical conclusions from the theory of relativity. Physical form of matter: unity, essence, mode of existence, direction of evolution

American physicist and philosopher F. Frank said that the physics of the twentieth century, especially the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, stopped the movement of philosophical thought towards materialism, based on the dominance of the mechanical picture of the world in the last century. Frank said that “in the theory of relativity, the law of conservation of matter no longer applies; matter can be transformed into immaterial entities, into energy.” However, all idealistic interpretations of the theory of relativity are based on distorted conclusions. An example of this is that sometimes idealists replace the philosophical content of the concepts “absolute” and “relative” with physical ones. They argue that since the coordinates of a particle and its speed will always remain purely relative values (in the physical sense), that is, they will never turn even approximately into absolute values and therefore, supposedly, will never be able to reflect the absolute truth (in the philosophical sense) . In reality, coordinates and speed, despite the fact that they do not have an absolute character (in the physical sense), are an approximation to the absolute truth. The theory of relativity establishes the relative nature of space and time (in the physical sense), and idealists interpret this as its denial of the objective nature of space and time. Idealists try to use the relative nature of the simultaneity and sequence of two events resulting from the relativity of time to deny the necessary nature of the causal relationship. In the dialectical-materialist understanding, both the classical ideas about space and time and the theory of relativity are relative truths that include only elements of absolute truth. Matter Until the middle of the 19th century, the concept of matter in physics was identical to the concept of substance. Until this time, physics knew matter only as a substance that could have three states. This idea of matter took place due to the fact that “the objects of study of classical physics were only moving material bodies in the form of matter; besides matter, natural science did not know other types and states of matter (electromagnetic processes were attributed either to material matter or to its properties) " For this reason, the mechanical properties of matter were recognized as universal properties of the world as a whole. Einstein mentioned this in his works, writing that “for a physicist of the early nineteenth century, the reality of our external world consisted of particles between which simple forces, depending only on distance."

ABSTRACT

Philosophical aspects of the theory of relativity

Einstein

Gorinov D.A.

Perm 1998
Introduction.

IN late XIX At the beginning of the 20th century, a number of major discoveries were made, which began a revolution in physics. It led to a revision of almost all classical theories in physics. Perhaps one of the largest in importance and which played the most important role in the development of modern physics, along with quantum theory, was A. Einstein’s theory of relativity.

The creation of the theory of relativity made it possible to revise traditional views and ideas about the material world. Such a revision of existing views was necessary, since many problems had accumulated in physics that could not be solved with the help of existing theories.

One of these problems was the question of the limiting speed of light propagation, which was excluded from the point of view of the then dominant principle of Galileo’s relativity, which was based on Galileo’s transformations. Along with this, there were many experimental facts in favor of the idea of the constancy and limit of the speed of light (the universal constant). An example here is the experiment of Michelson and Morley, carried out in 1887, which showed that the speed of light in a vacuum does not depend on the movement of light sources and is the same in all inertial frames of reference. As well as the observations of the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer, who determined back in 1675. based on the delay of eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, the final value of the speed of light.

Other significant issue, which arose in physics, was associated with ideas about space and time. The ideas about them that existed in physics were based on the laws of classical mechanics, since in physics the dominant view was that every phenomenon has, ultimately, a mechanistic nature, since Galileo’s principle of relativity seemed universal, relating to any laws, and not just the laws of mechanics . From Galileo's principle, based on Galileo's transformations, it followed that space does not depend on time and, conversely, time does not depend on space.

Space and time were thought of as given forms independent of each other; all the discoveries made in physics fit into them. But such a correspondence between the provisions of physics and the concept of space and time existed only until the laws of electrodynamics, expressed in Maxwell’s equations, were formulated, since it turned out that Maxwell’s equations are not invariant under Galilean transformations.

Shortly before the creation of the theory of relativity, Lorentz found transformations under which Maxwell's equations remained invariant. In these transformations, unlike Galileo’s transformations, time in different reference systems was not the same, but the most important thing was that from these transformations it no longer followed that space and time were independent of each other, since time was involved in the transformation of coordinates, and when converting time - coordinates. And as a consequence of this, the question arose - what to do? There were two solutions, the first was to assume that Maxwell's electrodynamics was erroneous, or the second was to assume that classical mechanics with its transformations and Galileo's principle of relativity is approximate and cannot describe all physical phenomena.

Thus, at this stage in physics, contradictions appeared between the classical principle of relativity and the position of the universal constant, as well as between classical mechanics and electrodynamics. There have been many attempts to give other formulations to the laws of electrodynamics, but they have not been successful. All this played the role of prerequisites for the creation of the theory of relativity.

Einstein's work, along with enormous significance in physics, is also of great philosophical meaning. The obviousness of this follows from the fact that the theory of relativity is associated with such concepts as matter, space, time and motion, and they are one of the fundamental philosophical concepts. Dialectical materialism found argumentation for its ideas about space and time in Einstein's theory. In dialectical materialism it is given general definition space and time as forms of existence of matter, and therefore, they are inextricably linked with matter, inseparable from it. "From the standpoint scientific materialism, which is based on the data of special sciences, space and time are not independent realities independent of matter, but internal forms of its existence.” Such an inextricable connection between space and time and moving matter was successfully demonstrated by Einstein’s theory of relativity.

There were also attempts to use the theory of relativity by idealists as proof that they were right. For example, the American physicist and philosopher F. Frank said that the physics of the twentieth century, especially the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, stopped the movement of philosophical thought towards materialism, based on the dominance of the mechanical picture of the world in the last century. Frank said that “in the theory of relativity, the law of conservation of matter no longer applies; matter can be transformed into intangible entities, into energy.”

However, all idealistic interpretations of the theory of relativity are based on distorted conclusions. An example of this is that sometimes idealists replace the philosophical content of the concepts “absolute” and “relative” with physical ones. They argue that since the coordinates of a particle and its speed will always remain purely relative values (in the physical sense), that is, they will never turn even approximately into absolute values and therefore, supposedly, will never be able to reflect the absolute truth (in the philosophical sense) . In reality, coordinates and speed, despite the fact that they do not have an absolute character (in the physical sense), are an approximation to the absolute truth.

The theory of relativity establishes the relative nature of space and time (in the physical sense), and idealists interpret this as its denial of the objective nature of space and time. Idealists try to use the relative nature of the simultaneity and sequence of two events resulting from the relativity of time to deny the necessary nature of the causal relationship. In the dialectical-materialist understanding, both the classical ideas about space and time and the theory of relativity are relative truths that include only elements of absolute truth.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the concept of matter in physics was identical to the concept of substance. Until this time, physics knew matter only as a substance that could have three states. This idea of matter took place due to the fact that “the objects of study of classical physics were only moving material bodies in the form of matter; besides matter, natural science did not know other types and states of matter (electromagnetic processes were attributed either to material matter or to its properties) ". For this reason, the mechanical properties of matter were recognized as universal properties of the world as a whole. Einstein mentioned this in his works, writing that “for the physicist of the early nineteenth century, the reality of our external world consisted of particles between which simple forces act, depending only on distance.”

Ideas about matter began to change only with the advent of a new concept introduced by the English physicist M. Faraday - field. Faraday, having discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831 and discovered the connection between electricity and magnetism, became the founder of the doctrine of the electromagnetic field and thereby gave impetus to the evolution of ideas about electromagnetic phenomena, and therefore to the evolution of the concept of matter. Faraday first introduced such concepts as electric and magnetic fields, expressed the idea of the existence of electromagnetic waves and thereby opened a new page in physics. Subsequently, Maxwell supplemented and developed Faraday's ideas, as a result of which the theory of the electromagnetic field appeared.

For a certain time, the fallacy of identifying matter with substance did not make itself felt, at least obviously, although substance did not cover all known objects of nature, not to mention social phenomena. However, it was of fundamental importance that matter in the form of a field could not be explained with the help of mechanical images and ideas, and that this area of \u200b\u200bnature, to which electromagnetic fields belong, was increasingly beginning to manifest itself.

The discovery of electric and magnetic fields became one of the fundamental discoveries of physics. It greatly influenced the further development of science, as well as philosophical ideas about the world. For some time, electromagnetic fields could not be scientifically substantiated or a coherent theory could be built around them. Scientists have put forward many hypotheses in an attempt to explain the nature of electromagnetic fields. This is how B. Franklin explained electrical phenomena by the presence of a special material substance consisting of very small particles. Euler tried to explain electromagnetic phenomena through the ether; he said that light in relation to the ether is the same as sound in relation to air. During this period, the corpuscular theory of light became popular, according to which light phenomena were explained by the emission of particles by luminous bodies. There have been attempts to explain electrical and magnetic phenomena by the existence of certain material substances corresponding to these phenomena. “They were assigned to various substantial spheres. Even in early XIX V. magnetic and electrical processes were explained by the presence of magnetic and electrical fluids, respectively.”

Phenomena associated with electricity, magnetism and light have been known for a long time and scientists, studying them, tried to explain these phenomena separately, but since 1820. such an approach became impossible, since the work carried out by Ampere and Ørsted could not be ignored. In 1820 Oersted and Ampere made discoveries, as a result of which the connection between electricity and magnetism became clear. Ampere discovered that if a current is passed through a conductor located next to a magnet, then forces from the magnet’s field begin to act on this conductor. Oersted observed another effect: the influence of an electric current flowing through a conductor on a magnetic needle located next to the conductor. From this it could be concluded that the change electric field accompanied by the appearance of a magnetic field. Einstein noted the special significance of the discoveries made: “A change in the electric field produced by the movement of a charge is always accompanied magnetic field- the conclusion is based on Oersted's experience, but it contains something more. It contains the recognition that the connection between the electric field, which changes over time, and the magnetic field is very significant."

On the basis of experimental data accumulated by Oersted, Ampere, Faraday and other scientists, Maxwell created a holistic theory of electromagnetism. Later, his research led to the conclusion that light and electromagnetic waves have the same nature. Along with this, it was discovered that the electric and magnetic field has such a property as energy. Einstein wrote about this: “Being at first only an auxiliary model, the field becomes more and more real. The attribution of energy to the field is a further step in development, in which the concept of the field becomes more and more essential, and the substantial concepts characteristic of the mechanistic point of view become increasingly secondary." Maxwell also showed that an electromagnetic field, once created, can exist independently, regardless of its source. However, he did not isolate the field into a separate form of matter, which would be different from matter.

Further development theories of electromagnetism by a number of scientists, including G.A. Lorenz, shook the usual picture of the world. Thus, in Lorentz’s electronic theory, in contrast to Maxwell’s electrodynamics, the charge generating the electromagnetic field was no longer formally represented; electrons began to play the role of charge carrier and field source for Lorentz. But a new obstacle arose on the path to clarifying the connection between the electromagnetic field and matter. Matter, in accordance with classical ideas, was thought of as a discrete material formation, and the field was represented as a continuous medium. The properties of matter and field were considered incompatible. The first person to bridge this gap separating matter and field was M. Planck. He came to the conclusion that the processes of emission and absorption of fields by matter occur discretely, in quanta with energy E=h n. As a result of this, ideas about field and matter changed and led to the fact that the obstacle to recognizing the field as a form of matter was removed. Einstein went further, he suggested that electromagnetic radiation not only is it emitted and absorbed in portions, but it is distributed discretely. He said that free radiation is a flow of quanta. Einstein associated the quantum of light, by analogy with matter, with momentum - the magnitude of which was expressed in terms of energy E/c=h n /c(the existence of an impulse was proven in experiments conducted by the Russian scientist P. N. Lebedev in experiments on measuring the pressure of light on solids and gases). Here Einstein showed the compatibility of the properties of matter and field, since the left side of the above relationship reflects corpuscular properties, and the right side reflects wave properties.

Thus, coming to turn of the XIX century century, many facts have been accumulated regarding the concepts of field and matter. Many scientists began to consider field and matter as two forms of existence of matter; based on this, as well as a number of other considerations, the need arose to combine mechanics and electrodynamics. “However, it turned out to be impossible to simply attach the laws of electrodynamics to Newton’s laws of motion and declare them to be a unified system describing mechanical and electromagnetic phenomena in any inertial frame of reference.” The impossibility of such a unification of the two theories resulted from the fact that these theories, as mentioned earlier, are based on different principles; this was expressed in the fact that the laws of electrodynamics, unlike the laws of classical mechanics, are non-covariant with respect to Galilean transformations.

In order to build a unified system that would include both mechanics and electrodynamics, there were two most obvious ways. The first was to change Maxwell's equations, that is, the laws of electrodynamics, so that they began to satisfy Galileo's transformations. The second path was associated with classical mechanics and required its revision and, in particular, the introduction of other transformations instead of Galileo’s transformations, which would ensure the covariance of both the laws of mechanics and the laws of electrodynamics.

The second path turned out to be correct, which Einstein followed, creating the special theory of relativity, which finally established new ideas about matter in their own right.

Subsequently, knowledge about matter was supplemented and expanded, and the integration of the mechanical and wave properties of matter became more pronounced. This can be shown by the example of a theory that was presented in 1924 by Louis de Broglie. In it, de Broglie suggested that not only waves have corpuscular properties, but also particles of matter, in turn, have wave properties. So de Broglie associated a moving particle with a wave characteristic - wavelength l = h/p, Where p- momentum of the particle. Based on these ideas, E. Schrödinger created quantum mechanics, where the motion of a particle is described using wave equations. And these theories, which showed the presence of wave properties in matter, were confirmed experimentally - for example, it was discovered when microparticles passed through crystal lattice It is possible to observe phenomena that were previously thought to be inherent only to light, these are diffraction and interference.

And also a quantum field theory was developed, which is based on the concept of a quantum field - special kind matter, it is in the particle state and in the field state. An elementary particle in this theory is represented as an excited state of a quantum field. A field is the same special type of matter that is characteristic of particles, but only in an unexcited state. In practice, it has been shown that if the energy of a quantum of the electromagnetic field exceeds the intrinsic energy of the electron and positron, which, as we know from the theory of relativity, is equal to mc 2 and if such a quantum collides with a nucleus, then as a result of the interaction of the electromagnetic quantum and the nucleus, an electron-positron pair will appear. There is also a reverse process: when an electron and a positron collide, annihilation occurs - instead of two particles, two g-quanta appear. Such mutual transformations of the field into matter and back of matter into the field indicate the existence of a close connection between the material and field forms of matter, which was taken as the basis for the creation of many theories, including the theory of relativity.

As you can see, after publication in 1905. The special theory of relativity made many discoveries related to particular studies of matter, but all these discoveries relied on the general idea of matter, which was first given in the works of Einstein in the form of a holistic and consistent picture.

Space and time

The problem of space and time, like the problem of matter, is directly related to physical science and philosophy. In dialectical materialism, a general definition of space and time is given as forms of the existence of matter. “From the standpoint of scientific materialism, which is based on data from particular sciences, space and time are not independent realities independent of matter, but internal forms of its existence,” and therefore, they are inextricably linked with matter, inseparable from it. This idea of space and time also exists in modern physics, but during the period of the dominance of classical mechanics it was not so - space was divorced from matter, was not connected with it, and was not its property. This position of space relative to matter followed from the teachings of Newton, he wrote that “absolute space, by its very essence, regardless of anything external, always remains the same and motionless. The relative is its measure or some limited moving part, which is determined by our senses by its position relative to certain bodies and which in everyday life is accepted as motionless space... Place is the part of space occupied by a body, and in relation to space it can be either absolute , or relative."

Time also seemed separate from matter and did not depend on any ongoing phenomena. Newton divided time, as well as space, into absolute and relative, the absolute existed objectively, this “true mathematical time, in itself and its very essence, without any relation to anything external, flows uniformly and is otherwise called duration.” Relative time was only apparent, comprehended only through the senses, a subjective perception of time.

Space and time were considered independent not only from phenomena occurring in the material world, but also from each other. This is a substantial concept in this concept, as mentioned earlier, space and time are independent in relation to moving matter and do not depend on each other, subject only to their own laws.

Along with the substantial concept, another concept of space and time existed and developed - the relational one. This concept was mainly adhered to by idealist philosophers; in materialism, such a concept was the exception rather than the rule. According to this concept, space and time are not something independent, but are derived from a more fundamental essence. The roots of the relational concept go back centuries to Plato and Aristotle. According to Plato, time was created by God; in Aristotle, this concept was further developed. He wavered between materialism and idealism and therefore recognized two interpretations of time. According to one of them (idealistic), time was presented as the result of the action of the soul, the other materialist was that time was presented as the result of objective movement, but the main thing in his ideas about time was that time was not an independent substance.

During the dominance in physics of ideas about the space and time of data in Newton's theory, the relational concept prevailed in philosophy. Thus, Leibniz, based on his ideas about matter, which were broader than Newton’s, developed it quite fully. Leibniz represented matter as a spiritual substance, but it was valuable that in defining matter he did not limit himself only to its material form; he also included light and magnetic phenomena as matter. Leibniz rejected the existence of emptiness and said that matter exists everywhere. Based on this, he rejected Newton’s concept of space as absolute, and therefore rejected the idea that space is something independent. According to Leibniz, it would be impossible to consider space and time outside of things, since they were properties of matter. “Matter, he believed, plays a determining role in the space-time structure. However, this idea of Leibniz about time and space was not confirmed in contemporary science and therefore was not accepted by his contemporaries.”

Leibniz was not the only one who opposed Newton; among the materialists one can single out John Toland; he, like Leibniz, rejected the absolutization of space and time; in his opinion, it would be impossible to think of space and time without matter. For Toland, there was no absolute space distinct from matter that would serve as a container material bodies; There is no absolute time, isolated from material processes. Space and time are properties material world.

The decisive step towards the development of a materialistic doctrine of space, based on a deeper understanding of the properties of matter, was made by N. I. Lobachevsky in 1826. Until this time, Euclid's geometry was considered true and unshakable, it said that space can only be rectilinear. Almost all scientists relied on Euclidean geometry, since its provisions were perfectly confirmed in practice. Newton was no exception in creating his mechanics.

Lobachevsky was the first to attempt to question the inviolability of Euclid’s teaching, “he developed the first version of the geometry of curvilinear space, in which more than one straight line parallel to a given one can be drawn through a point on a plane, the sum of the angles of a triangle is less than 2d, and so on; By introducing the postulate about the parallelism of straight lines, Lobachevsky obtained an internally non-contradictory theory.”

Lobachevsky's geometry was the first of many similar theories developed later, examples being Riemann's spherical geometry and Gaussian geometry. Thus, it became clear that Euclidean geometry is not an absolute truth, and that under certain circumstances other geometries other than Euclidean may exist.

"Successes natural sciences, which led to the discovery of matter in a field state, mathematical knowledge that discovered non-Euclidean geometries, as well as the achievements of philosophical materialism were the foundation on which the dialectical-materialist doctrine of the attributes of matter arose. This doctrine absorbed the entire body of accumulated natural science and philosophical knowledge, based on a new idea of matter.” In dialectical materialism, the categories of space and time are recognized as reflecting external world, they reflect the general properties and relationships of material objects and therefore have general character- not a single material formation is conceivable outside of time and space.

All these provisions of dialectical materialism were a consequence of the analysis of philosophical and natural science knowledge. Dialectical materialism combines all the positive knowledge accumulated by humanity over all the millennia of its existence. A theory appeared in philosophy that brought man closer to understanding the world around him, which gave an answer to the main question - what is matter? In physics until 1905. such a theory did not exist, there were many facts and guesses, but all the theories put forward contained only fragments of the truth, many emerging theories contradicted each other. This state of affairs existed until Einstein published his works.

The endless ladder of knowledge

The creation of the theory of relativity was a natural result of processing the physical knowledge accumulated by mankind. The theory of relativity became the next stage in the development of physical science, incorporating the positive aspects of the theories that preceded it. Thus, Einstein in his works, while denying the absolutism of Newtonian mechanics, did not completely discard it; he gave it its rightful place in the structure of physical knowledge, believing that the theoretical conclusions of mechanics are suitable only for a certain range of phenomena. The situation was similar with other theories that Einstein relied on; he asserted the continuity of physical theories, saying that “the special theory of relativity is the result of adapting the foundations of physics to Maxwell-Lorentz electrodynamics. From previous physics it borrows the assumption of the validity of Euclidean geometry for the laws of spatial arrangement absolutely solids, inertial system and the law of inertia. The special theory of relativity accepts the law of equivalence of all inertial systems from the point of view of formulating the laws of nature as valid for all physics (special principle of relativity). From Maxwell-Lorentz electrodynamics, this theory borrows the law of constancy of the speed of light in a vacuum (the principle of constancy of the speed of light).”

At the same time, Einstein understood that the special theory of relativity (STR) was also not an unshakable monolith of physics. “One can only conclude,” Einstein wrote, “that the special theory of relativity cannot claim unlimited applicability; its results are applicable only as long as the influence of the gravitational field on physical phenomena (for example, light) can be ignored.” STR was just another approximation of a physical theory, operating within a certain framework, which was the gravitational field. The logical development of the special theory was the general theory of relativity; it broke the “gravitational fetters” and became head and shoulders above the special theory. However, the general theory of relativity did not refute the special theory, as Einstein’s opponents tried to imagine; on this occasion, he wrote in his works: “For an infinitesimal region, coordinates can always be chosen in such a way that the gravitational field will be absent in it. Then we can assume that in such an infinitesimal region the special theory of relativity holds. Thus, the general theory of relativity is connected with the special theory of relativity, and the results of the latter are transferred to the former.”

The theory of relativity made it possible to take a huge step forward in describing the world around us, combining the former isolated concepts matter, motion, space and time. She gave answers to many questions that remained unresolved for centuries, made a number of predictions that were later confirmed, one of such predictions was the assumption made by Einstein about the curvature of the trajectory of a light beam near the Sun. But at the same time, new problems arose for scientists. What is behind the phenomenon of singularity, what happens to giant stars when they “die”, what gravitational collapse actually is, how the universe was born - it will be possible to solve these and many other questions only by climbing one more step up the endless ladder knowledge.

Orlov V.V. Fundamentals of Philosophy (Part One)

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D. P. Gribanov Philosophical foundations of the theory of relativity M. 1982, p. 143

V.V. Orlov Fundamentals of Philosophy, part one, p. 173

Gribanov D.P. Philosophical foundations of the theory of relativity. M. 1982, p. 147

Einstein A. Collection scientific works, M., 1967, vol. 2, p. 122

Einstein A. Collection of scientific works, M., 1967, vol. 1, p. 568

Einstein A. Collection of scientific works, M., 1967, vol. 1, p. 423

The resolution of this contradiction was carried out by A. Einstein in 1905 with the creation of the special theory of relativity. Fundamentally new in Einstein's theory is the statement of relativity and space and time, considered separately. The understanding of the meaning of the simultaneity of two events has become significantly different. From the point of view of the special theory of relativity (SRT), two events that are simultaneous in one inertial frame of reference will be non-simultaneous in another frame moving relative to the first. Thus, we can speak with confidence about the simultaneity of two events only if they occurred in the same place 6, p. 90-91.

The loss of the absoluteness of simultaneity means that there cannot be a single time in different reference systems. Each such system has its own “own” time. Length has also become relative. In fact, what does it mean to measure the length of any segment? This means simultaneously fixing its beginning and end. However, since the concept of simultaneity has lost its absolute meaning, the length of the segment will be different in different reference systems. Moreover, the establishment that the length of the segment will decrease in the direction of movement, and the time intervals will increase, i.e. The passage of time must slow down. The question arises: are such relativistic effects real?

The theory affirms their reality. Moreover, the point is not that each segment in different systems is really shorter than the other. It’s just that observers in each reference system, when measuring, will find that a segment in another system is shorter than a segment in their system (for example, to each of two people of the same height standing on opposite sides of a biconcave lens, the other will seem smaller, although this does not mean that each of them less than the other). The real cause of changes will be the mutual relative motion of bodies. Thus, in contrast to classical physics, we can talk about the length of a body only in relation to one or another reference system. The same applies to time periods. An analogy to this is that we cannot talk about the speed of a body in general, regardless of any system, because the speed of a body does not exist in itself. The concepts of “top” and “bottom”, “right” and “left” are also meaningless if it is not indicated in relation to which orientation in space is established 10, p. 108.

The development of ideas about space and time has shown that, as such, space and time do not exist separately. They are sides of a single entity - four-dimensional “space-time”. The world at the same time, this is a world of events that are characterized by place and time. SRT, having shown the relativity of space and time, introduced a new absolute - four-dimensional “space-time”, where three coordinates are spatial, and the fourth is temporal.

In general, the philosophical significance of the special theory of relativity is that it discovered the inextricable connection, the unity of space and time. The further development of ideas about space and time and their relationship with matter is associated with the emergence general theory relativity (GR), one of the main postulates of which is Einstein’s gravitational equations, where the right side is a physical quantity expressing matter - energy - momentum, and the left side expresses the geometric properties of four-dimensional space-time.

Thus, Einstein's equations simultaneously describe both the gravitational field and the geometry of space-time. Establishing the dependence of the gravitational field, and through it, space-time, on the distribution of material masses in it is the most important factor not only in physical, but also in general philosophical terms. In this sense, Einstein's equations should be considered as a mathematical expression of the dialectical principle, which stated that space and time as forms of existence of matter should be inextricably linked with matter and its properties. This means that general relativity in solving the problem of space and time differs from classical physics.

The manifestation of relativistic effects is also peculiar in general relativity. According to it, a reduction in lengths and a dilation of time are observed even within the same frame of reference, when moving from one point of the system to another. For example, at all points located closer to the center of material masses, the gravitational field will be more intense and, therefore, time will flow more slowly, and the lengths of the segments will be shorter than at points more distant from the center of gravity. In 1958, the German physicist Miesbauer discovered a method for making “nuclear clocks” that measure time with enormous accuracy. Experiments using the Miesbauer effect have shown that time flows slower near the surface of the earth than, say, on the roof of a building 6, p. 122.

So, the general theory of relativity is a new confirmation of the dialectical-materialist doctrine of the inextricable relationship of space and time with moving matter.

In conclusion, we can say that the development of modern physics has confirmed the correctness of the dialectical-materialist concept of space and time.

There is hardly any other physical theory that has been “refuted” as often as the special theory of relativity. Its critics can be divided into two groups. Representatives of the first group speak on behalf of physics. As a rule, they either revive the doctrine of the ether or deny the invariance of the speed of light in a vacuum. Representatives of the second group speak on behalf of philosophy. Enough has been said about physics earlier; now we will turn directly to philosophy.

Any physicist is not able to isolate himself from philosophy. This circumstance is extremely rarely taken into account by the authors of scientific and educational books on physics.

When analyzing the views of Einstein, Reichenbach and Poincaré, the author already had to turn to philosophical views physicists. Reichenbach is a neopositivist. As such, he attaches decisive significance to experiment, absoluteizing its significance.

Poincaré is a conventionalist. He attaches paramount importance to conventions, conditional agreements. For him they are insurmountable.

Einstein is a critical conceptualist. He talks, first of all, about concepts, noting, among other things, in our opinion, somewhat categorically, their independence from experiment.

At first glance, the existence of differences in the philosophical positions of outstanding scientists seems incomprehensible. Why do they take different positions? Because every person is unique. Any type of knowledge is interpreted differently by people.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Einstein lived in Germany, where neo-Kantians and phenomenologists dominated among philosophers. Both were critical of the special theory of relativity. Neo-Kantians, in particular P. Natorp, proceeded from Kant’s position, according to which space and time are necessary conditions contemplation of all, including physical, phenomena. Therefore, they rejected Einstein’s views, according to which space and time relative to physical dynamics are not primary, but secondary.

Phenomenologists, in particular O. Becker, were concerned about another circumstance. They sought to be guided by life practice in all their statements. Phenomenologists believed that there are no obstacles to the constitution of vital important concept absolute simultaneity. But Einstein rejected this possibility.

In Germany, Einstein's views met many years of resistance from adherents of methodological constructivism, who, in relation to physics, interpreted it as protophysics. The most prominent figures of this philosophical trend were G. Dingler and P. Lorenzen. Both believed that Einstein was not consistent in building his theory, because he did not have a theory of time and space. And it must be asked. But in this case, they say, one cannot do without Euclidean geometry. Impeccable theory building presupposes certain prerequisites, i.e. protophysics. As we see, constructivists inherited Kant’s belief about the premises of theory.

The famous representative of the philosophy of life, Henri Bergson, is also critical of Einstein. Their confrontation is quite significant insofar as Bergson professionally dealt with the problem of time. He was most interested not so much in physical time as in biological time. Physics, he believed, rests on the replacement of time-creativity with time-extension, which is unsatisfactory. Bergson's desire to understand physical time from the perspective of biological time did not lead to noticeable success.

Attitudes towards the special theory of relativity in our country were quite contradictory, where long time dialectical materialism dominated in philosophy. A significant milestone in this history was the article by V. A. Fock. Before its appearance, critics of the theory of relativity, led by their unofficial leader A. A. Maksimov, felt quite at ease. The main line of criticism of Einstein was the identification of relativistic mechanics with philosophical relativism (everything is relative, biased). But these are fundamentally different concepts. Einstein was never a philosophical relativist.

After Fok's article, another line prevailed. Now they argued that the special theory of relativity testifies in favor of dialectical materialism, and Einstein himself is, if not a dialectical, then at least a spontaneous materialist.

For about two decades, the views of A.D. Alexandrov were quite popular. In his opinion, the special theory of relativity is a theory of “absolute space-time determined by matter itself - a theory in which relativity clearly and necessarily occupies the position of a subordinate, secondary aspect.”

This statement can hardly be called correct. Firstly, the concept of matter, which is missing in physics, is introduced. Apparently, this means the entire set physical processes. Secondly, they cannot define space-time, because by definition it is their own side. Thirdly, space-time is not an independent entity. As noted earlier, the concept of space-time captures only the connection between time and space. Fourthly, the term “absolute” is incorrectly contrasted with the term “relative”. Absolute means it does not depend on anything. Aleksandrov believed that space-time depends on matter. Fifthly, there is no basis for a condescending characterization of the relative. It is not secondary in relation to either the absolute or the invariant. The interval is invariant, and the lengths and durations included in its composition are relative, but in this relationship there is no primary and secondary.

Subsequently, the absolute majority of physicists characterizing the special theory of relativity preferred not to mention philosophical trends. Philosophers began to free themselves from the dialectical-materialist obsession only in the 1990s.

It remains to be noted that liberation from the restrictions of any philosophical direction should be welcomed. But if it is accompanied by ignoring cognitive guidelines, then SPAM is evident.

conclusions

1. A physicist is unable to avoid philosophical conclusions, peculiar generalizations of what he knows.
2. It is always necessary to strive for harmony between philosophy and physics. It occurs only if philosophy is not introduced into physics as an element alien to it, but acts as a metascientific ascent within it itself.

ABSTRACT

Philosophical aspects of the theory of relativity

Einstein

Gorinov D.A.

Perm 1998
Introduction.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a number of major discoveries were made, which began a revolution in physics. It led to a revision of almost all classical theories in physics. Perhaps one of the largest in importance and which played the most important role in the development of modern physics, along with quantum theory, was A. Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Another significant problem that arose in physics was related to ideas about space and time. The ideas about them that existed in physics were based on the laws of classical mechanics, since in physics the dominant view was that every phenomenon has, ultimately, a mechanistic nature, since Galileo’s principle of relativity seemed universal, relating to any laws, and not just the laws of mechanics . From Galileo's principle, based on Galileo's transformations, it followed that space does not depend on time and, conversely, time does not depend on space.

Einstein's work, along with its enormous significance in physics, also has great philosophical significance. The obviousness of this follows from the fact that the theory of relativity is associated with such concepts as matter, space, time and motion, and they are one of the fundamental philosophical concepts. Dialectical materialism found argumentation for its ideas about space and time in Einstein's theory. In dialectical materialism, a general definition of space and time is given as forms of existence of matter, and therefore, they are inextricably linked with matter, inseparable from it. “From the standpoint of scientific materialism, which is based on the data of special sciences, space and time are not independent realities independent of matter, but internal forms of its existence.” Such an inextricable connection between space and time and moving matter was successfully demonstrated by Einstein’s theory of relativity.

The discovery of electric and magnetic fields became one of the fundamental discoveries of physics. It greatly influenced the further development of science, as well as philosophical ideas about the world. For some time, electromagnetic fields could not be scientifically substantiated or a coherent theory could be built around them. Scientists have put forward many hypotheses in an attempt to explain the nature of electromagnetic fields. This is how B. Franklin explained electrical phenomena by the presence of a special material substance consisting of very small particles. Euler tried to explain electromagnetic phenomena through the ether; he said that light in relation to the ether is the same as sound in relation to air. During this period, the corpuscular theory of light became popular, according to which light phenomena were explained by the emission of particles by luminous bodies. There have been attempts to explain electrical and magnetic phenomena by the existence of certain material substances corresponding to these phenomena. “They were assigned to various substantial spheres. Even at the beginning of the 19th century. magnetic and electrical processes were explained by the presence of magnetic and electrical fluids, respectively.”

Phenomena associated with electricity, magnetism and light have been known for a long time and scientists, studying them, tried to explain these phenomena separately, but since 1820. such an approach became impossible, since the work carried out by Ampere and Ørsted could not be ignored. In 1820 Oersted and Ampere made discoveries, as a result of which the connection between electricity and magnetism became clear. Ampere discovered that if a current is passed through a conductor located next to a magnet, then forces from the magnet’s field begin to act on this conductor. Oersted observed another effect: the influence of an electric current flowing through a conductor on a magnetic needle located next to the conductor. From this it could be concluded that a change in the electric field is accompanied by the appearance of a magnetic field. Einstein noted the special significance of the discoveries made: “The change in the electric field produced by the movement of a charge is always accompanied by a magnetic field - a conclusion based on Oersted’s experiment, but it contains something more. It contains the recognition that the connection between the electric field, which changes over time, and the magnetic field is very significant."

Further development of the theory of electromagnetism by a number of scientists, including G.A. Lorenz, shook the usual picture of the world. Thus, in Lorentz’s electronic theory, in contrast to Maxwell’s electrodynamics, the charge generating the electromagnetic field was no longer formally represented; electrons began to play the role of charge carrier and field source for Lorentz. But a new obstacle arose on the path to clarifying the connection between the electromagnetic field and matter. Matter, in accordance with classical ideas, was thought of as a discrete material formation, and the field was represented as a continuous medium. The properties of matter and field were considered incompatible. The first person to bridge this gap separating matter and field was M. Planck. He came to the conclusion that the processes of emission and absorption of fields by matter occur discretely, in quanta with energy E=hn. As a result of this, ideas about field and matter changed and led to the fact that the obstacle to recognizing the field as a form of matter was removed. Einstein went further; he suggested that electromagnetic radiation is not only emitted and absorbed in portions, but spreads discretely. He said that free radiation is a flow of quanta. Einstein associated the quantum of light, by analogy with matter, with momentum - the magnitude of which was expressed in terms of energy E/c=hn/c(the existence of an impulse was proven in experiments conducted by the Russian scientist P. N. Lebedev in experiments on measuring the pressure of light on solids and gases). Here Einstein showed the compatibility of the properties of matter and field, since the left side of the above relationship reflects corpuscular properties, and the right side reflects wave properties.

Thus, approaching the turn of the 19th century, a lot of facts had accumulated regarding the concepts of field and matter. Many scientists began to consider field and matter as two forms of existence of matter; based on this, as well as a number of other considerations, the need arose to combine mechanics and electrodynamics. “However, it turned out to be impossible to simply attach the laws of electrodynamics to Newton’s laws of motion and declare them to be a unified system describing mechanical and electromagnetic phenomena in any inertial frame of reference.” The impossibility of such a unification of the two theories resulted from the fact that these theories, as mentioned earlier, are based on different principles; this was expressed in the fact that the laws of electrodynamics, unlike the laws of classical mechanics, are non-covariant with respect to Galilean transformations.

The second path turned out to be correct, which Einstein followed, creating the special theory of relativity, which finally established new ideas about matter in their own right.

Subsequently, knowledge about matter was supplemented and expanded, and the integration of the mechanical and wave properties of matter became more pronounced. This can be shown by the example of a theory that was presented in 1924 by Louis de Broglie. In it, de Broglie suggested that not only waves have corpuscular properties, but also particles of matter, in turn, have wave properties. So de Broglie associated a moving particle with a wave characteristic - wavelength l= h/p, Where p- momentum of the particle. Based on these ideas, E. Schrödinger created quantum mechanics, where the motion of a particle is described using wave equations. And these theories, which showed the presence of wave properties in matter, were confirmed experimentally - for example, it was discovered that when microparticles pass through a crystal lattice, it is possible to observe phenomena that were previously thought to be inherent only to light, these are diffraction and interference.

And also a quantum field theory was developed, which is based on the concept of a quantum field - a special type of matter, it is in the state of a particle and in the state of a field. An elementary particle in this theory is represented as an excited state of a quantum field. A field is the same special type of matter that is characteristic of particles, but only in an unexcited state. In practice, it has been shown that if the energy of a quantum of the electromagnetic field exceeds the intrinsic energy of the electron and positron, which, as we know from the theory of relativity, is equal to mc 2 and if such a quantum collides with a nucleus, then as a result of the interaction of the electromagnetic quantum and the nucleus, an electron-positron pair will appear. There is also a reverse process: when an electron and a positron collide, annihilation occurs - instead of two particles, two g-quanta appear. Such mutual transformations of the field into matter and back of matter into the field indicate the existence of a close connection between the material and field forms of matter, which was taken as the basis for the creation of many theories, including the theory of relativity.

Space and time

Leibniz was not the only one who opposed Newton; among the materialists one can single out John Toland; he, like Leibniz, rejected the absolutization of space and time; in his opinion, it would be impossible to think of space and time without matter. For Toland, there was no absolute space distinct from matter, which would be the container of material bodies; There is no absolute time, isolated from material processes. Space and time are properties of the material world.

“The successes of the natural sciences, which led to the discovery of matter in a field state, mathematical knowledge, which discovered non-Euclidean geometries, as well as the achievements of philosophical materialism were the foundation on which the dialectical-materialist doctrine of the attributes of matter arose. This doctrine absorbed the entire body of accumulated natural science and philosophical knowledge, based on a new idea of matter.” In dialectical materialism, the categories of space and time are recognized as reflecting the external world, they reflect the general properties and relationships of material objects and therefore have a general character - no material formation is conceivable outside of time and space.

The endless ladder of knowledge

The creation of the theory of relativity was a natural result of processing the physical knowledge accumulated by mankind. The theory of relativity became the next stage in the development of physical science, incorporating the positive aspects of the theories that preceded it. Thus, Einstein in his works, while denying the absolutism of Newtonian mechanics, did not completely discard it; he gave it its rightful place in the structure of physical knowledge, believing that the theoretical conclusions of mechanics are suitable only for a certain range of phenomena. The situation was similar with other theories that Einstein relied on; he asserted the continuity of physical theories, saying that “the special theory of relativity is the result of adapting the foundations of physics to Maxwell-Lorentz electrodynamics. From previous physics it borrows the assumption of the validity of Euclidean geometry for the laws of spatial arrangement of absolutely rigid bodies, the inertial system and the law of inertia. The special theory of relativity accepts the law of equivalence of all inertial systems from the point of view of formulating the laws of nature as valid for all physics (special principle of relativity). From Maxwell-Lorentz electrodynamics, this theory borrows the law of constancy of the speed of light in a vacuum (the principle of constancy of the speed of light).”

The theory of relativity made it possible to make a huge step forward in describing the world around us, uniting the previously separate concepts of matter, motion, space and time. She gave answers to many questions that remained unresolved for centuries, made a number of predictions that were later confirmed, one of such predictions was the assumption made by Einstein about the curvature of the trajectory of a light beam near the Sun. But at the same time, new problems arose for scientists. What is behind the phenomenon of singularity, what happens to giant stars when they “die”, what gravitational collapse actually is, how the universe was born - it will be possible to solve these and many other questions only by climbing one more step up the endless ladder knowledge.

Orlov V.V. Fundamentals of Philosophy (Part One)

Newton I. Mathematical principles of natural philosophy.

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