SIDELIGHTS ON RELATIVITY

Back Forward Menu

answer should be "Yes." I want to show that without any extraordinary
difficulty we can illustrate the theory of a finite universe by
means of a mental image to which, with some practice, we shall soon
grow accustomed.

First of all, an observation of epistemological nature. A
geometrical-physical theory as such is incapable of being directly
pictured, being merely a system of concepts. But these concepts
serve the purpose of bringing a multiplicity of real or imaginary
sensory experiences into connection in the mind. To "visualise"
a theory, or bring it home to one's mind, therefore means to give
a representation to that abundance of experiences for which the
theory supplies the schematic arrangement. In the present case we
have to ask ourselves how we can represent that relation of solid
bodies with respect to their reciprocal disposition (contact) which
corresponds to the theory of a finite universe. There is really
nothing new in what I have to say about this; but innumerable