Einstein and Wittgenstein’s mental experiments: on the similarity between Wittgenstein and relativity theory

Abstract

Abstract This summary paper will begin with historical and exegetical evidence of the connections between Wittgenstein and Einstein, including the impact Einstein had on the Vienna Circle and Wittgenstein’s continuous references to Einstein throughout his intellectual career after the Tractatus. It will then focus on the idea that Wittgenstein considered concepts analogous to measuring tools in relativity theory. This starts from using the term ‘reference system’, frequently used in Wittgenstein’s work and evoked notions in physics (Wittgenstein also occasionally used ‘coordinate system’). A development and expansion of the concept of reference system in the concept of the language game may be seen. The rest of the paper will be devoted to considering how Wittgenstein’s mental experiments with alien cultures could be analysed as an attempt to realise in philosophy the kind of approach developed in relativity theory, also making reference to anthropological cases.