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==Philosophy and relativity==
Petzoldt's philosophy,<ref name=krauss>{{Cite book | author=Russo Krauss, C. | year=2023 | title=The Philosophy of Joseph Petzoldt: From Mach's Positivism to Einstein's Relativity | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | isbn=9781350321465}}</ref><ref name=krauss2>{{cite book|author=Russo Krauss, C.|contribution=A Machian Interpretation of the Theory of Relativity? Joseph Petzoldt’s Reading of Einstein|title=Philosophers and Einstein's Relativity: The Early Philosophical Reception of the Relativistic Revolution|date=2023|editor=Russo Krauss, C., Laino, L.|series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science|volume=342|doi=10.1007/978-3-031-36498-3_2|pages=35–64}}</ref> developed in the late 19th and early 20th century,<ref group=P>''Maxima, Minima und Ökonomie'', 1891 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=ro1QAAAAYAAJ Online])</ref><ref group=P name=ges>''Das Gesetz der Eindeutigkeit'', 1895, Vierteljahrsschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie (19), pp. 146-203 ([https://archive.org/details/vierteljahrssch34unkngoog/page/146/mode/2up Online])</ref><ref group=P>''Einführung in die Philosophie der Reinen Erfahrung. Erster Band: Die Bestimmtheit der Seele'', 1900 ([https://www.archive.org/details/einfhrungindie00petz Online])</ref><ref group=P>''Einführung in die Philosophie der Reinen Erfahrung. Zweiter Band: Auf dem Wege zum Dauernden'', 1904 ([https://www.archive.org/details/einfhrungindie02petz Online])</ref><ref group=P>''Das Weltproblem von positivistischem Standpunkte aus,'' 1906 ([https://www.archive.org/details/dasweltproblemv00petzgoog Online])</ref> and called "relativistic positivism" by him since 1912,<ref group=P name=welt>''Das Weltproblem vom Standpunkte des relativistischen Positivismus aus'', 2. edition 1912 ([https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015059883267 Online]); 3. edition 1921; 4. edition 1924</ref> was based on the [[Positivism|positivistic]]-[[Sensualism|sensualistic]] philosophy of [[Empirio-criticism]] by [[Ernst Mach]] and [[Richard Avenarius]]. He emphasized the relative nature of all phenomena from the perspective of observers in line with [[Protagoras]] and the rejection of the concept of substance in line with [[George Berkeley]], thereby eliminating the difference between "appearance" and "reality", and defined the "law of univocalness"<ref group=P name=ges /> according to which all observers must achieve a univocally determined description of processes. [[Vladimir Lenin]] in his work [[Materialism and Empirio-criticism]] (1909) criticized the views of Petzoldt and other followers of Mach as [[solipsism]]. Petzoldt was founder and first chairman of the "society for positivist philosophy" (1912–1921) which among others was supported<ref>Proclamation signed by Petzoldt, Einstein and others: ''[https://archive.org/details/naturwissenschaf27deut/page/443/mode/1up Aufruf für die Bildung einer Gesellschaft für positivistische Philosophie]'', 1912, Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift, Vol. 11, pp. 443-444</ref> by [[Albert Einstein]], [[David Hilbert]], [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Felix Klein]], and he was co-founder of the "[[Berlin circle|local Berlin group]]" of the "international society for empirical philosophy" (1927).
As Hentschel<ref name=hent>{{Cite book | author=Hentschel, K. | year=1990 | title=Interpretationen und Fehlinterpretationen der speziellen und der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie durch Zeitgenossen Albert Einsteins | location=Basel—Boston—Bonn | publisher=Birkhäuser | doi=10.18419/opus-7182 | isbn=978-3-7643-2438-4 | url=http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/opus/volltexte/2010/5175/ }}; See sections 3.4.2 and 4.8.3.</ref> and in more detail Russo Krauss<ref name=krauss /><ref name=krauss2 /> have shown, Petzoldt was an early supporter and interpreter of the [[theory of relativity]]: In 1912<ref group=P>''[[s:de:Die Relativitätstheorie im erkenntnistheoretischen Zusammenhange des relativistischen Positivismus|Die Relativitätstheorie im erkenntnistheoretischen Zusammenhange des relativistischen Positivismus]]'', 1912. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 14, pp. 1055–1064.</ref> and 1914<ref name=pe14 group=P>''[[s:de:Die Relativitätstheorie der Physik|Die Relativitätstheorie der Physik]]'', 1914. Zeitschrift für positivistische Philosophie, Vol. 2, pp. 1–56</ref> he described the theory as a consistent implementation of the Machian philosophy and relativistic positivism, emphasizing the equivalence of all observer viewpoints and the relativity of lengths and times. Petzoldt's paper of 1914 was received very favorably by Einstein who publicly recommended it in a newspaper article,<ref>{{Citation|author=Einstein, A.|date=26 April 1914|title=Vom Relativitäts-Prinzip (CPAE Vol. 6)|journal=Vossische Zeitung|volume=209|pages=33-34|url=https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol6-doc/31}}; See also: [https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol6-trans/15 English translation in "CPAE Vol. 6"]</ref> and also privately shared his broad consent (even though Einstein had to correct Petzoldt's erroneous description of the [[twin paradox]]).<ref>Letter Einstein's to Petzoldt from 14. April 1914 in "The collected papers of Albert Einstein", Vol. 8a: [https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol8a-doc/88 Document 5 in German] with [https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol8-trans/40 English translation]</ref> Petzoldt handed over one of his books<ref group=P name=welt /> to Einstein at a personal meeting, after which Einstein wrote in a letter to Petzoldt that from reading the book he noticed "with delight" that he had "long shared your convictions".<ref>Letter Einstein's to Petzoldt from 11. June 1914 in: The collected papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8a: [https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol8a-doc/103 Document 13 in German] with [https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol8-trans/52 English translation]</ref> According to Howard, Petzoldt's philosophical "law of univocalness" may have also been influential on Einstein's "point-coincidence argument" that resolves the [[hole argument]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Howard, D.| year=1992|contribution= Einstein and Eindeutigkeit: A Neglected Theme in the Philosophical Background to General Relativity|title=Studies in the History of General Relativity|editor=Eisenstaedt J, and Kox, A.J.|series=Einstein studies|volume=3|pages=154—243|location=Boston|publisher=Birkhäuser|isbn=0817634797}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Howard, D., & Norton, J. D.| year=1993|contribution=Out of the labyrinth? Einstein, Hertz, and the Göttingen answer to the hole argument|title=The attraction of gravitation: new studies in the history of general relativity|editor=J. Earman, M. Janssen and J. Norton|pages=30-62|location=Boston|series=Einstein studies|volume=5|publisher=Birkhäuser|contribution-url=https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/labyrinth-HGR3.pdf}}</ref> Petzoldt continued to defend his interpretation in the 1920s, believing that Einstein's new [[general theory of relativity]] was consistent with Machian philosophy.<ref group=P>''Die Stellung der Relativitätstheorie in der geistigen Entwicklung der Menschheit'', Leipzig, Barth, 1921 ([https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201705143831 Online]); 2. enlarged edition 1923.</ref><ref group=P name=pema>''Das Verhältnis der Machschen Gedankenwelt zur Relativitätstheorie'', 1921. Appendix to the 8. editon of Ernst Mach's ''Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung historisch-kritisch dargestellt'', pp. 490ff, ({{Google books|id=nQFLAQAAMAAJ|page=490|title=Fulltext}})</ref><ref group=P>''Mechanistische Naturauffassung und Relativitätstheorie'', 1921. Annalen der Philosophie, 2, pp. 447–462. ([https://archive.org/details/annalenderphilos02vaihuoft/page/446/mode/2up Online])</ref>
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