We're also waiting for O.J. to find the real murderer. Wanna bet on which occurs first?
-Don. Stephen Black said: > 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] -- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
