De-anthropomorphizing energy and energy conservation: The case of Max Planck and Ernst Mach

Wegener, Daan

doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2010.02.001

Cited by 7 publications

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“…While Stein and Goldscheid were clearly drawing upon Ostwald’s energetics to underpin their own sociological interests, the nature of the relationship between Simmel and Ostwald is less clear. Simmel’s (1978 [1905]) Philosophy of Money uses the analogy of the exchange of energy in the physical world to describe the exchange of money in the economy (Wegener, 2010: 149). Although there is no direct evidence of sustained contact between Simmel and Ostwald beyond their involvement in the inception of the German Sociological Society in 1908–9 (Rammstedt, 2012), Ostwald’s later writings develop the analogy used by Simmel into a ‘full-blown theory of the economy’ (Wegener, 2010: 149).…”

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Sociology, Culture and Energy: The Case of Wilhelm Ostwald’s ‘Sociological Energetics’ – A Translation and Exposition of a Classic Text

Stewart

2014

Cultural Sociology

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Sociology has largely ignored the contribution of the German Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Wilhelm Ostwald to the sociology of energy, mainly due to Max Weber’s (1909) dismissive reception of Ostwald’s ‘energetical thought’. This article reclaims Ostwald’s significance for contemporary sociology, through a translation and exposition of ‘Sociological Energetics’, first published in 1908 as the final chapter of a popular book on energy. Ostwald’s deliberations, which derive from his engagement in contemporary debates on thermodynamics and energetics, brought him into contact with classical sociologists, including Rudolf Goldscheid, Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies and Weber. Ostwald’s contribution to sociology lies in his focus on the cultural significance of energy relations and transformations. In their encounters with Ostwald and energetics, Simmel, Tönnies and Weber all reveal the potential importance of Ostwald’s work on energy relations in thinking productively about the relationship between technology and culture.

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confidence: 99%

Sociology, Culture and Energy: The Case of Wilhelm Ostwald’s ‘Sociological Energetics’ – A Translation and Exposition of a Classic Text

Stewart

2014

Cultural Sociology

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Revisiting Einstein’s Happiest Thought. From the Physiology of Perception to Experimental Propositions and Principles in the History of Relativity

Staley

2019

Ernst Mach – Life, Work, Influence

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The Concept of Fact in German Physics around 1900: A Comparison between Mach and Einstein

Waal

Hagen

2020

Phys. Perspect.

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The concept of “fact” has a history. Over the past centuries, physicists have appropriated it in various ways. In this article, we compare Ernst Mach and Albert Einstein’s interpretations of the concept. Mach, like most nineteenth-century German physicists, contrasted fact and theory. He understood facts as real and complex combinations of natural events. Theories, in turn, only served to order and communicate facts efficiently. Einstein’s concept of fact was incompatible with Mach’s, since Einstein believed facts could be theoretical too, just as he ascribed mathematical theorizing a leading role in representing reality. For example, he used the concept of fact to refer to a generally valid result of experience. The differences we disclose between Mach and Einstein were symbolic for broader tensions in the German physics discipline. Furthermore, they underline the historically fluid character of the category of the fact, both within physics and beyond.

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De-anthropomorphizing energy and energy conservation: The case of Max Planck and Ernst Mach

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Sociology, Culture and Energy: The Case of Wilhelm Ostwald’s ‘Sociological Energetics’ – A Translation and Exposition of a Classic Text

Sociology, Culture and Energy: The Case of Wilhelm Ostwald’s ‘Sociological Energetics’ – A Translation and Exposition of a Classic Text

Revisiting Einstein’s Happiest Thought. From the Physiology of Perception to Experimental Propositions and Principles in the History of Relativity

The Concept of Fact in German Physics around 1900: A Comparison between Mach and Einstein

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