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Ernst Mach

1910    PWV (4th cd.), PSL (English and American, }d cd.), AOS (Hungarinn, ist cd.), Leitgedanken (in articlc form), Sinn-lichcElenicrte (in articlc form)

1911    Analyse (6th ed.), COE (American, ist cd.)

1912    Mechanik (7th ed.)

1913    nonc ¹¹

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Mach’s influence in Vicnna at the turn of the ccntury was most prominent with young pcople, scicntists, Jews, nondogmatic socialists, and literary and artistic figures. He was the philosopher of what remained of civilizcd, humanitarian, non-Catholic, Austrian "liberalism.” In the Empire as a wholc, the political situation was blcak and tended toward chaos. The proliferation of nationalistic and elass-oriented political par-ties had destroyed any rcalistic hopc of any govcrnmcnt having a par-liamentary majority. Hungary went her own domestic way, and Austria survivcd by dccrcc and thosc rarc occasions when a majority vote could be had in favor of a government measurc. By the first decadc of the new ccntury it was elear that national dillcrences were irreconcil-able. The best that could be donc was to acccpt the fact and try to preserve public pcacc and order by not emphasizing differenccs or introducing controversial policics. Austria survivcd until 1914 in sus-pendcd animation on a “don’t rock the boat” policy. Should hcavy waves cornc the Empire must founder. Loyalty to ones “nationality" had long taken precedencc over “Austrian” or “I labsburg" allegiancc. Even Austrian socialists were split along “national” lines.

Amidst such gloomy prospects, the remnants of “liberał” Vicnna crcatcd a cultural rcnaissancc unbclicvablc in its brilliancc in light of the croding influence of an incrcasingly hostile philistine majority which dcmonstrably had the futurę on its sidc. Mach’s role as an intel-lectual leader during this immortal sunset had magnetic qualities.

Two students, Viktor Kraft and Othmar Spann, lielpcd form a rcad-ing group (Studcntenkreis) in Vienna bctwccn 1900 and 1903.¹² The members would mcct in the “drying” room of Spann's father who was a bookbinder. With wet pages hanging from lines around them the group would discuss the ideas of leading philosophers of the day. Avenarius madę a strong impression upon them, but they soon turncd to Mach s much niorc rcadablc books. Yiktor Kraft latcr bccame a

membcr of the “Vicnna (mircie” and its mos: dedicated histórian. Un-likc most of his collcagucs, he remained in Yicnna where he has con-tinucd to represent the Best in that tradition. Othmar Spann cvcntually becamc a professor of law and devcloped a “holistic” social philosophy.

Hans Thirring, the noted physicist, whose father and son were also physicists, hrst hegan to read Mach’s books about 1907 when hc found one in his fathcr’s library.¹³ Thirring becamc so interested in Mach’s criticism of Ncwton’s buckct cxpcriment that during World War I hc set up an elaboratc cxpcriment to provc Mach’s “rclativistic" thesis. Unfórtunatcly, materiał shortages causcd by the war and his own lack of financial rcsources hampered his attempt.¹* Nonethclcss, he fclt en-couraged by the rcsults, though they failed to givc conclusive support cithcr to “\lach's principle” or his cpistemological “refutation” of Nc\vton’s “absolute” spacc, timc, and niotion. Through the years, 1 Thirring gradually came closer to the philosophical and methodological ■ views of Ludwig Boltzmann.¹⁵

Philipp Frank (1884-1966), the mathcmatical physicist, biographer of Einstein, friend of the “Vicnna Circlc,” philosopher of science, and one of the moro skillful writers at uttempting to place Ernst Mach in the van of recent scientific progress, rccalled the deve'lopmcnt of an-other Vienna student group which becamc enthusiastic about Mach’s idcas.

At the time when the first chaptcr of this book [Modern Science and its Philosophy ] was written (1907) I had just graduated from the Univcrsity of Vienna as a doctor of philosophy in physics. But the domain of my most inrensivc interest was the |)hilosophy of science. 1 uscd to associate with a group of students who assemblcd evcry Thursday night in one of the old Vienncsc cofTec houses. We stayed until inidnight and cven latcr, discuss-ing problems of science and philosophy.¹⁶

Philipp Frank wrote two books on Einstein^ theory of relativitv (1909-1910). Ernst Mach sent Frank iwo letters in 1910 at least partly in the hope that Frank could help clarify the ideas of Einstein and Minkowski for him. This corrcspondence helped scal Frank’s lifclong loynlty to most aspeets of Mach’s philosophy of science. Frank wrote further: “About 1910 there began in Vienna a moven\ent which re* gardcd Mach’s posilivistic philosophy of science as having great im-portancc for generał intellectual lite. . . . To this group bclonged the mathcmatician II. Halin, the political economist Otto Neurath, and

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