Two lead reviews on philosophical books in the New York Times Book Review, both disappointing. Sarah Blakewell says nothing philosophical at all in her review of Jim Holt's Why Does the World Exist? And George Johnson's account of Steven Gimbel's Enstein's Jewish Science is (to say the least) puzzling. The book is not yet available, but here's a one-liner: "maybe relativity is 'Jewish science' after all." And the Google preview reveals that one of the chapters is entitled: "Why Did A Jew Formulate the Theory of Relativity?"
Intriguing? I now quote from the review.
What gives Einstein's work a Jewish flavour, Gimbel believes is . . [that God's truth] . . comes only in glimpses. . . "The heart of the Talmudic view is that there is an absolute truth, but this truth is not directly and completely available to us," Gimbel writes. "It turns out that exactly the same style of thinking occurs in the relativity theory and in some of Einstein's other research."
Space and time are observer-relative projections of absolute space-time! Apparently, the Talmudic view just cited makes it easier for Jews to formulate such a theory.
OK, I have to say it. I am underwhelmed. But let's wait for the book.
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