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On the Effect of the Spatial Distribution of the Light Stimulus on the Retina
Paul Pojman describes the immediate significance of this publication was that it provided a strong argument against direct representational theories of perception. In that there is no connection between reality and appearance. Mach argued that perception works through perceiving the correlations between stimuli and that this process is at the root of all life. Pojman, Paul, "Ernst Mach", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) -
The Science of Mechanics
Mach attacks Isaac Newton's Principa and begins the process discrediting any imaginative realities that he believed to be unimportant. Mach highlights only true testimony can be achieved through sensation. He believed the world was a complex conglomerate of elements contributing to our sensationalized experience. Holton, Gerald. 1968. Mach, Einstein, and the Search for Reality. Daedalus 97 (2), Historical Population Studies (Spring, 1968): 636-673 -
Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations
In this publication, Mach describes how knowledge and investigation can only be understood through sensation and experience. He was not a fan of the unseen or unverifiable theories. This led him to reject ideas about absolute time and space which eventually influenced Einstein's theory of relativity. Pojman, Paul, "Ernst Mach", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/ernst-mach/. -
Knowledge and Error
This publication outlines Mach’s thoughts about science following a sequential path where thoughts and realities only build on what has previously been thought and discovered. No new information can be sequestered from what is already known and has already been experienced. Holton, Gerald. 1968. Mach, Einstein, and the Search for Reality. Daedalus 97 (2), Historical Population Studies (Spring, 1968): 636-673 -
Ernst Mach Educational Video