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Joseph Petzoldt (4 November 1862 – 1 August 1929) was a German Positivism philosopher and teacher. He is known as the founder of several societies aimed at advancing positivist philosophy in the scientific world, and was an early proponent of the theory of relativity which he interpreted on the basis of his philosophy of "relativistic positivism".
As Hentschel; See sections 3.4.2 and 4.8.3. and in more detail Russo Krauss have shown, Petzoldt was an early supporter and interpreter of the theory of relativity: In 1912 , 1912. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 14, pp. 1055–1064. and particularly in 1914, 1914. Zeitschrift für positivistische Philosophie, Vol. 2, pp. 1–56 he described the theory as a consistent implementation of the Machian philosophy and relativistic positivism. He emphasized the equivalence of all observer viewpoints, the relativity of lengths and times, and the principle of light speed constancy as the direct outcome of the Fizeau experiment and the Michelson–Morley experiment, even though he had reservations about the conclusion that there can be no higher speeds in nature than that of light. Petzoldt's paper of 1914 was received very favorably by Einstein, who publicly recommended it in a newspaper article; See also: English translation in "CPAE Vol. 6" and also privately shared his broad consent by letter (even though Einstein had to correct Petzoldt's erroneous description of the twin paradox).Letter Einstein's to Petzoldt from 14. April 1914 in "The collected papers of Albert Einstein", Vol. 8a: Document 5 in German with English translation Petzoldt handed over one of his books to Einstein at a personal meeting, after which Einstein wrote in a letter to Petzoldt that from reading the book he noticed "with delight" that he had "long shared your convictions".Letter Einstein's to Petzoldt from 11. June 1914 in: The collected papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 8a: Document 13 in German with English translation According to Howard, Petzoldt's philosophical "law of univocalness" may have also been influential on Einstein's "point-coincidence argument" that resolves the hole argument. In a letter from 1919, Petzoldt thanked Einstein for recommending him to a professorship in philosophy,Letter Petzoldt's to Einstein from 26 July 1919 in "The collected papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 9": Document 77 in German with English translation even though that initiative proved to be unsuccessful. Petzoldt continued to defend his interpretation in the 1920s, believing that Einstein's new general theory of relativity was consistent with Machian philosophy, particularly in regard to the role that Mach's principle and all "coincidences of impressions" play in that theory. Die Stellung der Relativitätstheorie in der geistigen Entwicklung der Menschheit, Leipzig, Barth, 1921; 2. enlarged edition 1923., 1921. Appendix to the 8. edition of Ernst Mach's Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung historisch-kritisch dargestellt, pp. 490ff Mechanistische Naturauffassung und Relativitätstheorie, 1921. Annalen der Philosophie, 2, pp. 447–462.
However, Petzoldt's radical relativistic-positivistic interpretation of relativity theory, along with insufficient technical understanding, led him to commit fundamental errors: In 1918–1919 he criticized representations of relativity theory that he believed to be reliant on "absolute" views and concepts, Verbietet die Relativitätstheorie Raum und Zeit als etwas wirkliches zu denken?, 1918. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 20, pp. 189–201. Die Unmöglichkeit mechanischer Modelle zur Veranschaulichung der Relativitätstheorie, 1919. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 21, pp. 495–503. causing Einstein to write that he was "disappointed" in Petzoldt whose earlier writings on relativity have been better.Letter Einstein's to Scheel on 17. March 1919 in: The collected papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 9: Document 9 in German. Petzoldt also misunderstood the Ehrenfest paradox, which even an exchange of letters with Einstein in 1919 failed to clarify.Letter exchange between Einsteins and Petzoldt (1919) in: The collected papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 9: Document 77 in German with English translation, Document 93 in German with English translation, Document 95 in German with English translation. Petzoldt also continued to be unconvinced about the twin paradox (which he had already criticized in 1914 as "a return to absolutist thinking") as shown in a correspondence with Hans Reichenbach in 1922. (1990). 9783928068031, Sigma. ISBN 9783928068031. Petzoldt's philosophy, along with his interpretation of the theory of relativity, was increasingly criticized and rejected by other philosophers such as Reichenbach, Moritz Schlick and Ernst Cassirer in the early 1920s, at which time also Einstein moved away from Machian philosophy towards a philosophical realism and apparently ceased his relations to Petzoldt after 1920.
The philosophical relationship between Petzoldt, Mach and Einstein also played a role in the controversy over a posthumously published preface to Mach's book Optics, allegedly written by Ernst Mach in July 1913, in which he rejected the theory of relativity. Wolters; see letter Mach's to Petzoldt on pp. 187f.; and rivalry between Ludwig Mach and Petzoldt on pp. 365ff. argues that this preface was actually not written by Ernst Mach, but a forgery by his anti-relativist son Ludwig Mach, because various sources and letters apparently show that Ernst Mach around 1913–1914 did not reject the theory of relativity, but had a very positive opinion of it. For example, there is a letter from Ernst Mach to Petzoldt dated 1 May 1914, which begins: "The accompanied letter from Einstein proves the penetration of positivist philosophy into physics; you can rejoice about it ... A year ago, philosophy as such was a mere stupidity...". From that Wolters concludes that in Mach's opinion, positivist philosophy entered modern physics through relativity theory, and since relativity is perhaps the most advanced physical theory that sets the standards for philosophy, it follows that positivist philosophy is no longer stupid unlike other philosophies. Thus, there is an emphatic statement of Mach in favor of relativity, written after the alleged foreword of July 1913. Wolters also alludes to the rivalry between Petzoldt and Ludwig Mach: In 1921, Petzoldt published an appendix to the 8th edition of Ernst Mach's book Mechanics, in which Petzoldt described relativity as a consequence of Ernst Mach's philosophy, while Ludwig soon afterwards published the aforementioned (forged, according to Wolters) anti-relativistic foreword in Optics. After Petzoldt's death, Ludwig published the 9th edition of Mechanics in 1933, in which Petzoldt's pro-relativistic appendix was removed and a new preface appeared, in which Ludwig once again inserted (forged, according to Wolters) anti-relativistic statements of Ernst Mach.
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