Émile Meyerson (; 12 February 1859 – 2 December 1933) was a Polish-born French epistemologist, chemist,

philosopher of science Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist. Meyerson was born in Lublin,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He died in his sleep of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at the age of 74.

Biography

Meyerson was born Ezryel-Szoel-Froim Meyerson to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. He was educated at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

and studied chemistry under Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. In 1882 Meyerson settled in Paris. He served as foreign editor of the

Havas Havas NV () is a French multinational corporation, multinational advertising agency, advertising and public relations company, with its registered office and head office in Puteaux, France. Havas operates in more than 100 countries. The group ...

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

, and later as the director of the Jewish Colonization Association for

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. He became a naturalized French citizen after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American History and philosophy of science, historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and ...

cites Meyerson's work as influential while developing the ideas for his main work ''

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' is a 1962 book about the history of science by the philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a landmark event in the History of science, history, Philosophy of science, philosophy, and sociology ...

''. In ''La Déduction relativiste'', Meyerson expressed the view that

Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

's general theory of relativity was a new version of the identification of

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

with

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

, which he considered "the postulate upon which the whole ( Cartesian) system rests."Quoted in Arthur O. Lovejoy, ''The Revolt against Dualism: An Inquiry Concerning the Existence of Ideas'' (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996), p. 5; Lovejoy's translation rig. publ. 1930

Works

* '' Identité et réalité'' (1908) * ''De l'explication dans les sciences'', 2 vols. (1921) * ''La déduction relativiste'' (1925) * ''Du cheminement de la pensée'', 3 vols. (1931) * '' Réel et déterminisme dans la physique quantique'' (1933) * ''Essais'' (1936)

Notes

References

External links

* Miguel Espinoza
"Meyerson, Physics and the Intelligibility of Nature"
1859 births 1933 deaths 19th-century French chemists Epistemologists Philosophers of science 20th-century French philosophers Emigrants from Congress Poland to France French Zionists 19th-century Polish Jews Jewish philosophers French male writers {{france-philosopher-stub

Biography

Works

See also

Notes

References

External links