IMG94

Ernst Mach

the Austrian Ministry of Education, wcrc particularly vulncrablc at this timc. Ludwig Boltzmann thought that thc addition of Mach would incrcasc thc prestige of thc univcrsity; it would ;Jso gTvirfto!tz-mann morc opportunity to talk with and lcarn from a man whosc in-telligcncc hc rcspected.²² Also, thc Taaffc rcgimc had finally fallcn and had bccn rcplaccd by thc so-callcd United Lcft, a coalition includ-ing thc liberał and progrcssivc partics, a group of German conserva-tivcs, and thc Polcs. The ncw minister of cducation was himself a Pole. Church influence was less strong in thc new ministry. If Mach was to succccd it was now or not at all.

Mach knew that therc wcrc no physics chairs open in Vienna, but that all thrcc chairs in philosophy might be availablc. “Brentanos chair” had long bccn lcft open in thc hopc that thc controvcrsial “old” Catholic might rcclaim it. Brentanos fiery Lasl Wishes for Austria and departure for Italy ended that idea. The sccond chair had also rc-maincd unoccupied for a long timc, but in early 189^ a tcaching eon-tract as an cxtraordtnarius professor had bccn given to Franz I lillc-brand thereby filling it in a provisional manncr.‘^ł The third philosophy chair had bccn occupicd by Robert Zimmermann sińce 1861, who was about to retire.

Two wccks after Hcinrichs dcath, Mach madc a brief visit to Vicnna where he gavc a spccial lccturc bcforc thc General Session of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians. It was titlcd “On thc Principle of Comparison in Physics.” “⁴ Hc must have bccn eloquent that night as his speech was long remembered by many lis-teners, in spite of thc fact that he scems not to havc finishcd it.^2a Ap-parcntly, hc was ovcrcome by cmotion or by thc incongruity of attack-ing traditional causal theory whilc at thc yćry same time using it to punish himself with guilt and rcmorsc. Four months later, Alois Hófler read and discusscd a continuation (Fortsetzung) of Machs lccturc to thc Philosophical Socicty of thc Univcrsity of Vicnna.^a* Theodor Gomperz, thc distinguished historian of Greek philosophy, writer on John Stuart Mili, and friend of positivism, hcard Mach’s speech against the notion of causc and cffect and took a printed copy of it homc with him. Shortly afterward, he encouragcd his son, I Iein-rich Gomperz, to read it. The young philosophy student was so cn-thusiastic about it that hc wokc his father in thc middlc of thc night and said: “Excusc me if I disturb you! I only wanted to say: Why do you find it so hard to find a philosopher fto fili one of thc empty

chairs 1? U one has Mach in the country one would think that thc scarch shouldn’t takc long." Theodor Gomperz replied: "Mach? Why that’s an idea!” Hc then thought thc rnatter ovcr.²⁷

Meanwhile, Professor Tschcrmak replied favorably (Octobcr ii,

1894) to Mach*s idea of coming to Vienna to leach as an "honorary" professor.²⁸ He latcr stated that all thrcc Univcrsity physicisis ap-p_rovcd.^M He warncd, however, that Mach would make less moncy teaching on a privatc basis and cvcntually would regret no longer having a laboratory of his own available.

Machs friend, Eduard Krischek (letter, Octobcr 2, 1894), and Tschcrmak (letter, Octobcr 11, 1894), also discovercd that Herr Klee-mann, a govcrnmcnt adviscr (Referent), was willing to rccommcnd Mach’s transfer to Vicnna not mcrcly as an “honorary" professor but on an official basis to fili one of thc open philosophy professorships. The whecls wcrc now turning morc ąuickly. The Education Ministry (Das Ministeritirn fiir Cultus ttnd Unterńchl) on Novcmbcr 4, 1894, un-expcctcdly asked thc philosophy faculty for new proposals to fili one of thc empty philosophy chairs.³⁰ Theodor Gomperz put forward Mach’s namc before thc faculty sclcction commission and for thc rest of Novembcr did his utrnost to bring thc rest of the commission and philosophical faculty around to his way of thinking. Hc also communi-cated with Mach himself in order to check his availahility and inter-est.³¹

Mach, howevcr, was uf two minds. He wnntcd to comc to Vicnna, and was willing to acccpt a professorship in philosophy, but he still preferred to think of himself as a scieniist and wanted other people to think of himself in that way too. Professor Gomperz sought to easc Mach’s fears on this point and was apparently rather successful.

Heinrich Gomperz latcr describcd how the only “professionał phi-losophcr” on thc committcc withdrew his opposition to Mach’s nomi-

nalion.

Robert Zimmermann, the followcr of llerbart, saw a disrcspcct to philosophy in calling a physicist to fili a chair in philosophy. Should a majority suppoit such a proposal, he would register a minority votc in the faculty. But it now happened (indeed, mainly trom rcasons of that kind which generally tend to tavor thc success of "outsiders ), that finally all hen] other members of thc commission United in support oi Mach. Zim-incrmann then dcclarcd that sińce thc other members ot thc commission wcrc unanimous, he ]as head of thc commission 1 was rcady to wntc a report supporting their point of vicw. This report ot Zimmermann—as my

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