Leibniz on relativity
the debate between Hans Reichenbach and Dietrich Mahnke on Leibniz's theory of motion and time
pp. 143-185
in: Yannick Chin Drian, Ralf Krömer (eds), New essays on Leibniz reception, Berlin, Springer, 2012Abstract
One of the most significant episodes in the early-twentieth-century reception of Leibniz was the reading of his works on natural philosophy as an anticipation of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. In a way, such an interpretation might have been meant to uplift the fame of Leibniz as a scientist, which had been, it was said not without a touch of chauvinism, overshadowed for too long a time by the evershining Newtonian star; as well as to give evidence of the extraordinary forerunning talent of the philosopher, which had, as it was just then being discovered and believed, most clearly manifested itself not only in the edition of his logical work but also in many other fields of science; and even, perhaps, to burnish Einstein's new-born theory through the authority of a highly reputed metaphysician of the past that could inaugurate it.
