Not too long ago loquacious Louis cited the great Albert Einstein for the following:
"A lot of what can be counted doesn't count, and a lot of what counts can't be counted", which he referenced to either _The World as I See It_ or _Ideas and Opinions_. Sceptical TIPSters (shame on them!) queried the attributation to Einstein. Jean-Marc Perrault, for example, checked _The World as I See It_, and found no such quotation within. I've now obtained a copy of _Ideas and Opinions_ (Laurel reprint edition, 1976), which turns out to be a large collection of some of Einstein's popular writing (generally short essays) on a variety of topics. There's no index, so I browsed among the most likely essays, looking for the quote or a reasonable facsimile. I didn't find it (although it's possible I missed it). In the meantime, I must warn that the quote is unverified and apocryphal. Louis also told us, back on May 6/05: "I'll tell you what. As an exercise I'll take Allen up on his challenge to see just where that quote originates...don't know how long it'll take, but I will find it. Promise." On a related matter, I had asserted that the more famous quote routinely attributed to Einstein, "Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler" and its variant "A theory should be made as simple as possible but not simpler" is listed by Alice Calaprice (2000) in her _The Expanded Quotable Einstein_ as "possibly by Einstein" but unverified. Jeff Bartel suggested the origin of this quote was: "The supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience", which he attributed to apparently a book by Einstein called _On the Method of Theoretical Physics_ (1933) published by Oxford University Press. This seems a reasonable suggestion although less quotable than the unverified version which may well have been someone else's adept paraphrase of it. However, I'm happy to report that Einstein did say what Jeff said he did, with only minor modifications. One is the that the source is not a book but the Herbert Spencer Lecture delivered by Einstein at Oxford, June 10, 1933 and published in _Mein Weltbild, Amersterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934. How do I know? Because it's reprinted in _Ideas and Opinions_. The version given there is close but not identical to Jeff's. It says: "It is the grand object of all theory to make these irreducible elements as simple and as few in number as possible, without having to renounce the adequate representation of any empirical content whatever". BTW, Calaprice herself suggests the origin of the saying is another Einstein quote, "A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area of applicability", from his "Autobiographical Notes" in Schilpp, Albert Einstein Philosopher- Scientist. But I think Jeff''s is the more promising origin. . And Louis, we're still waiting for you to keep your promise. Stephen ___________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm _______________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
