The Einstein-Bergson Debate: In their 1922 debate, Bergson held that relativity was not a theory that addressed time on its most fundamental, philosophical level but a theory about clocks and their behavior. Bergson called Einstein out for missing the distinction. Bergson was not criticizing Einstein’s theory. He was attacking a philosophy being passed off as part of the science–a hidden metaphysics. Einstein, however, was not moved. In response to Bergson’s challenges, the physicist lobbed his now famous grenade: “The time of the philosophers does not exist,” he told the audience. Science or metaphysics–how might our students respond?
