Einstein’s Life-Long Doubts on the Physical Foundations of the General Relativity and Unified Field Theories

Abstract

To the best of my knowledge, it can safely be argued that the majority of recent studies on the foundational difficulties of quantum physics start from the assumptions that the conceptual foundations of classical physics and relativity theory are clear and unproblematic and the present problems should concern only quantum physics. Yet, a simple inquiry into the literature and especially into Einstein’s epistemological writings shows that, contrary to the view of a supposedly well-founded classical physics and relativity, important foundational problems in these sciences are still in need of further analysis.1 The belief that the only foundational difficulties belong to quantum physics (henceforth QP), as if they alone existed against an ideal unproblematic background of classical physics (henceforth CP) and relativity theories (RR), results in a limited approach in examining the historical documents.