Ernst Mach is
considered both a physicist and presensationalist
philosopher, but in his own mind he thought of himself as
only a physicist. Pursuing the concept that all knowledge
originates with sensation, Mach has been influential in
both scientific and philosophical thought. Born in
Moravia on February 18, 1838, he studied at the
University of Vienna and went on to teach mechanics and
physics there until 1864. He then became a professor of
mathematics at the University of Graz. It was there that
he began to develop his ideas about psychology and the
physiology of sensation. Mach left Graz in 1867 to become
a professor of experimental physics at Charles University
in Prague. Mach ended his career in Vienna, serving as
Professor of Inductive Philosophy from 1895-1901.
Over the course of his
career, Mach’s ideas were both influential and
controversial. Himself influenced by the likes of
Berkeley, Hume and Kant; Mach sought to push basic modern
physics as a presensationalist epistemology. He pursued
rigorous scientific methodology, impressing his
contemporaries with his epistemological assumptions. Mach
was also one of the pioneering figures of Gestalt
phenomena. Late in his service at Prague he wrote
Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations,
thus proving his positivist view of science. He surmised
that scientific investigation can only be understood by
thorough observation, as phenomena cannot be analyzed
without such experiences or sensations. Mach held that
nothing in science can be postulated that is not
empirically verifiable. This led him to reject
metaphysical concepts such as absolute space and time, as
well as incorporating atoms and molecules into physical
theory. His strong adherence to these ideas brought him
into many contests and philosophical wars with many of
his contemporaries including Carl Stumpf, Max Planck, and
Vladimir Lenin.
The range of Mach’s
influence on the intellectual community was profound.
Although he stirred up criticism from fellow physicists
such as Ludwig Boltzmann, he also affected many writers
in the Viennese circles. Arthur Schnitzler looked at how
Mach’s theories could be understood in a social
context in his play, La Ronde, and Robert Musil
wrote his dissertation on Mach’s theoretical ideas.
Though he greatly influenced Albert Einstein, paving the
way for his theory of relativity, Mach remains a
relatively unknown thinker. Currently, most people know
him only for the term "Mach I or II", which became a
popular expression for airplanes breaking the sound
barrier. When Mach died of heart disease in February of
1916, he left behind an interesting body of work and
ideas that have remained with us over the years, even if
Mach himself has been lost to obscurity.
-Christina
Weber
