Analysis of Sensations: Works in the Philosophy of Science 1830-1914

by Ernst Mach

The work of a brilliant polymath, Mach's Analysis was translated into English in 1914, and presents his extreme empiricism in lucid and persuasive form. The object of science, he writes, is just 'the connection of phenomena'; theories are likened to 'dry leaves which fall away' when they have ceased to be useful.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Psychology, Nonfiction, Physics

433 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher and is the namesake for the "Mach number" (also known as Mach speed) and the optical illusion known as Mach bands.

Reviews

[saml · Rating 2 out of 5]

odd book. strangely organised, scrappy. occasionally wonderful to read, as mach's interest in so much of the world draws one through all the reams of antique trivia. mach has wonderful philosophical views, but he is not interested in treating them as philosophy, really, so the book is of little philosophical interest. the strangest thing about the volume is its introduction, which is almost solely devoted to consideration of mach's relation to freud

[Éric Loonis]

This text by Ernst Mach was impossible to find in French edition (except as used book at prohibitive prices), so I started to retranslate it and offer it to interested readers. Of course, it is aimed at an intellectual, scientific audience, even simply passionate about reflection on the relationship between the world, the body and the mind. I had a lot of fun translating the text of a great scientist and discovering his thoughts.