IMG72

Erntł Mach

Machs thought shows a rcmarkablc agrccment in its main charactcrislics with thosc of Buddha in thc cxclusion of mctaphysics and the conccpt of substance.³*

The brief flirtation of many of Machs followcrs with Buddhism at this time sccms to have been closely connccted with their opposition to World War I. For Austrian paLriots thc war was caused by thc assassination of Archdukc Fcrdinand, heir to thc Austrian thronc, and thc rcfusal of Scrbian authoritics to allow a thorough invcstigation into thc matter on Scrbian soil.³⁵ For German patriots their declaration of war on France and Russia and the rcsulting inyasion of Belgium wcrc causcd by Russia’s rcfusal to stop inobilizing troops and was strictly precmptive in naturę, that is, it was forced by thc nced to avoid thc disastrous conscquences that most likcly would havc rcsulted had a fully mobilizcd France and Russia simultaneously attackcd Germany.³⁶

Many German and Austrian socialists, howcvcr, as wcll as numerous intcllcctuals, pacifists, and Jews, dislikcd war in principle and bclieved that actual wars wcrc cxamples of “types" which in modern times werc causcd by egoism, militarism, armament industry greed, and cconomic and political imperialism.³⁷

By 1917 strong civilian leadership under Clemenceau, Lloyd Georgc, and Woodrow Wilson had developcd to unify and strengthen thc allied war effort. In Germany and Austria, howevcr, the situation was entirely different. Civilian leadership continucd to be weak, parlia-mentary opposition to the war grew in strength, and thc frcqucnt German efforts to set up a pcace confcrcnce and the rcjcction of thosc efforts by thc allics helped dcmoralizc German and Austrian public opinion.

Central Europcan "Machists" were split on the war, but several of them becamc conspicuous figures in thc opposition. Friedrich Adler, as alrcady mentioned, shot the Austrian primc minister in 1916. Anton Lampa and Wilhelm Jcrusalcm wrotc pacifistically inclincd books.³⁸ Philipp Frank tried to remain mcntally ncutral, and Albert Einstein, who still considcrcd himsclf closely allied with many of Mach’s idcas, refused to support the country of his birth, a naiion that had rccently granted him a privilcgcd acadcmic status in Berlin.³⁰

Rcgardlcss of how wcll intentioncd "Machist” pro-Buddhism and opposition to thc conflict wcrc, thcrc can be littlc doubt that this atti-tudc did not endcar “Machism" to German and Austrian patriots, and that cventually thcrc would bc a rcckoning, one that would restrict

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Mach's conspicuous influence to ivory tower circlcs, uncorrupted by political rcalism.

VII

Robert Bouvicr rcad Lampa’s sympathetie account of Mach and Bud-dhism and dcvotcd a scction of his own work, The Thought of Ernst Mach (Paris, 1923) to an analysis of thc entire relationship.⁴⁰ He eon-cludcd “Mach was a Buddhist without pessimism.” He meant that whilc Mach’s theory of cconomy and desire to eliminate problcms were compatiblc with Buddhism, thc Buddhist rationalc for “simplicity" was missing. Mach bclievcd that human feclings could not yet be examined with enough scientific accuracy to be ablc to make scientifically re-liablc statements about them, hcnce, hc was unablc to accept Buddhist claims about thc predominancc of "unhappiness" ovcr "happiness" in lifc. Mach, thc philosopher, acccptcd cpistcmological, ontological, and ethicul Buddhism, but Mach, thc scicntist, had no place for thc cmo-tional justification for his choicc. Hc did not regard the misery of lifc as in any way incvitablc.⁴¹

Bouvicr’s book and Hermann Kcyscrling’s oncc popular The Trarel Diary of a Philosopher (1919) represented an end to a period of con-cern with Mach’s attraction toward Buddhism.⁴² Most writers sińce the carly 1920S have ignored the entire matter. They have been con-ccrncd primarily with Mach as a philosopher of science, and honestly havc not scen the rclcvance of this or any Oriental religion to his work in that field. They could not havc bccn morę wrong.

VIII

Since the Ćrusadcs, Western Civilization has bccn based on thc ju-dicious usc and mixturc of threc different sets of valucs: the humanc. the practical, and thc hcroic.⁴³ In generał, they havc represented Christian, mcrcantilc, and aristocratic interests. Two of thesc sets of values, thc practical and thc hcroic, havc ncccssitatcd a rcalistic understanding of forcc and causal cxplanation. By thc end of the seventeenth century. science, philosophy, and common sense had rcachcd an agreement.⁴⁴ To “sec’’ or "c.ypericnce" thc extcrn.il or physical world no longer meant that sensory impressions or objrcts were the external world or evcn a part of it, but that notieed primary qualities such as sizc, shape.

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