Albert Einstein

I first present a condensed picture of key phases and events in Albert Einstein’s life. This is then followed by Einstein's emphasis on the importance of adopting a right approach and attitude towards the scientific enterprise. Our interest here is in Einstein’s philosophy of science, a field in philosophy that critically examines the essential attributes, reliability of theories and research methods, and ultimate objectives found in science. The scientific enterprise is anchored very much on empiricism. I shall briefly look at Einstein’s entanglement with the Vienna Circle and his opposition to logical positivism’s strident rejection of metaphysics. For Einstein, we ought not to reject outright metaphysical statements because a large portion of scientific statements and formulated theories are so distant from their foundation in sense experience. Finally, I lay out the issue of conventionalism in science and mathematics.