A. Einstein to M. Schlick, 28th April 1922.- Correspondence Details
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Sent From (Definite): Albert EinsteinSent To (Definite): Friedrich Albert Moritz SchlickDate: 28 Apr 1922
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Quoted byE.H. Luchins and A.S. Luchins, 'Introduction to the Einstein-Wertheimer Correspondence', Methodology and Science 12 (3) (1979), pp. 165-202.
Description:Translation from the German by Luchins and Luchins:
'Dear Mr. Schlick:
Mr. W. Koehler, who has now been called from Goettingen [sic trans.] to Berlin, as a philosopher and a psychologist, requests that I speak on behalf of Mr. Max Wertheimer, in view of the fact that the latter might possibly be called to Goettingen or Kiel. I follow this request with even more satisfaction since I well know Mr. Wertheimer personally and esteem him highly as a human being. The center of Wertheimer's interests lies in the psychological field, where principally he was creatively active. From the point of the theory of knowledge, he is less suitable than Reichenbach, in as much as he knows the exact natural sciences much less than the latter. But at any rate, he is not an adherent of ossified word-philosophy (Kant-Society), but a lively human being, who thinks and experiences for himself, and in this sense is also able to have a liberating effect on young people. I have somewhat of an impression that in Germany the psychology is at present being a bit neglected compared with the theory of knowledge.
These lines are not intended to represent an attempt to influence you in some way, but only to point out to you a possibility which, because of your own field of work, perhaps has not come to your mind.
The letter naturally needs no reply. With cordial greetings.
Your [A. Einstein].' (181)
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Related toT. Quick, 'Disciplining Physiological Psychology: Cinematographs as Epistemic Devices, 1897-1922', Science in Context 30 (4), pp. 423-474.
Description:Einstein 'had since at least 1916 cultivated a close relationship with one of the pioneers of Gestalt psychology, Max Wertheimer. In 1922 Einstein asked Wertheimer to deputise for him at the League of Nations' Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, over which Bergson presided. In the same year, in the first of a number of such letters, he also penned a recommendation for him (to Moritz Schlick at Kiel) on the basis of both his personal acquaintance and his psychological expertise. [note: 'M. Wertheimer to A. Einstein, 17th Sept. 1922 and . Einstein-M. Schlick, 28th Apr. 1922 , trans. in E.H. Luchins and A.S. Luchins, 'Introduction to the Einstein-Wertheimer Correspondence', Methodology and Science 12 (3) (1979), pp. 165-202, on pp. 173-174 and 181. See also A.S. Luchins and E.H. Luchins, 'The Einstein-Wertheimer Correspondence on Geometric Proofs and Mathematical Puzzles', The Mathematical Intelligencer 12 (2) (1988), pp. 35-43. Einstein and Bergson's League of Nations experiences (though not Einstein's invitation to Wertheimer) are related in Canales, The Physicist and the Philosopher, pp. 114-130.']'
Relevant passage from Einstein:
Translation from the German by Luchins and Luchins:
'Dear Mr. Schlick:
Mr. W. Koehler, who has now been called from Goettingen [sic trans.] to Berlin, as a philosopher and a psychologist, requests that I speak on behalf of Mr. Max Wertheimer, in view of the fact that the latter might possibly be called to Goettingen or Kiel. I follow this request with even more satisfaction since I well know Mr. Wertheimer personally and esteem him highly as a human being. The center of Wertheimer's interests lies in the psychological field, where principally he was creatively active. From the point of the theory of knowledge, he is less suitable than Reichenbach, in as much as he knows the exact natural sciences much less than the latter. But at any rate, he is not an adherent of ossified word-philosophy (Kant-Society), but a lively human being, who thinks and experiences for himself, and in this sense is also able to have a liberating effect on young people. I have somewhat of an impression that in Germany the psychology is at present being a bit neglected compared with the theory of knowledge.
These lines are not intended to represent an attempt to influence you in some way, but only to point out to you a possibility which, because of your own field of work, perhaps has not come to your mind.
The letter naturally needs no reply. With cordial greetings.
Your [A. Einstein].'
