Albert Einstein’s “Physics and Reality” and “The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”

Abstract

: Now that in the first paper I have analysed the functions of epistemic narrativity for the process of scientific modeling in the follow up paper the analytical perspective will change gears and focus on the semiologic practices of scientific modeling as well as their epistemic functions for the development of Einstein ’ s special theory of relativity. The interformative process, described here can only be understood when multiple levels of modeling are differentiated. We must therefore distinguish three levels of modeling: primary, secondary and tertiary. In order to describe this process of three-fold modeling, I first turn to Einstein ’ s 1936 text “ Physics and Reality, ” which presents a metareflec-tion of epistemic practices in theoretical physics. From this it will become clear that it is necessary to distinguish the modeling levels, because each level com-prises its own possibilities and restrictions. This differentiation hopefully leads to a better understanding of theoretical modeling in physics from the point of view of literary studies. In the second part of the paper I focus on the process of interformation in physics and discuss the development of the theory of special relativity from a systematical perspective. In order to analyse the and to describe its various levels, I initially consider in the first paper a meta-theoretical text of Einstein ’ s “ Physik und Realität ” [ “ Physics and Reality ” 1 from 1936. 2 In this text Einstein reflects retrospectively on the process of theory-formation that led to the foundations of the theory of relativity. Three different