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Essays in Humanism Paperback – 27 January 2016
by Albert Einstein (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 201 ratings
The great thinker reflects on such topics as nuclear weapons, world poverty, and international affairs in this Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Nuclear proliferation, Zionism, and the global economy are just a few of the insightful and surprisingly prescient topics scientist Albert Einstein discusses in this volume of collected essays from between 1931 and 1950. Written with a clear voice and a thoughtful perspective on the effects of science, economics, and politics in daily life, Einstein’s essays provide an intriguing view inside the mind of a genius addressing the philosophical challenges presented during the turbulence of the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the dawn of the Cold War.
This authorized book features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Essays in humanismby Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955
Publication date 1983Topics Humanism -- History -- 20th century, HumanismPublisher New York : Philosophical Library : Distributed by KampmannCollection inlibrary; printdisabled; marygrovecollege; internetarchivebooks; americanaContributor Internet ArchiveLanguage English
122 pages ; 22 cm
The world recognizes that Albert Einstein, the outstanding scientist of the twentieth century, was fifty years ahead of his time. These Essays in Humanism (1931-1950) are more relevant today than when he conceived them. We feel privileged to offer them to the public with hardly any editorial change - a moving document of the workings of a conscientious, profound, and deeply humane mind
Originally published: New York : Philosophical Library, 1950
Why socialism? (1949) -- The negro question (1946) -- Science and society (1935) -- Towards a world government (1946) -- The way out (1946) -- On receiving the one world award (1948) -- Science and civilization (1933) -- A message to intellectuals (1948) -- Open letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations (1947) -- Dr. Einstein's mistaken notions -- an open letter from Sergei Vavilov, A.N. Frumkin, A.F. Joffe, and N.N. Semyonov (1947) a reply to Soviet scientists -- For an organization of intellectual workers (1945) -- "Was Europe a success" (1934) -- At a gathering for freedom of opinion (1936) -- Atomic war or peace (I-1945; II- 1947) -- The war is won but peace is not (1945) -- The menace of mass destruction (1947) -- The schools and the problem of peace (1934) -- On military service (1934) -- Military intrusion in science (1947) the military mentality -- International security (1933) -- Isaac Newton (1942) -- Johannes Kepler (1949) -- Marie Curie in memoriam (1935) -- Max Planck in memoriam (1948) -- Paul Langevin in memoriam (1947) -- Walther Nernst in memoriam (1942) -- Paul Ehrenfest in memoriam (1934) -- Mahatma Gandhi (1939) -- Carl von Ossietzky (1946) -- Why do they hate the Jews? (1938) just what is a Jew? where oppression is a stimulus -- The dispersal of European Jewry (1948) -- Let's not forget (1934) -- Unpublished preface to a blackbook (1945) -- The goal of human existence (1943) -- Our debt to Zionism (1938) -- To the heroes of the battle of the Warsaw ghetto (1944) -- Before the monument to the martyred Jews of the Warsaw ghetto (1948) -- The calling of the Jews (1936) -- Moses Maimonides (1935) -- Stephen Wise (1949) -- To the University of Jerusalem (1949) -- The American Council for Judaism (1945) -- The Jews of Israel (1949)
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Leith Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars His cognitive power
Reviewed in Canada on 8 August 2023
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A great read, what an incredible man.
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N.M
5.0 out of 5 stars 満足
Reviewed in Japan on 2 May 2018
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アインシュタインの一般向けエッセイを読みたいと思ったが、和書では、イメージ通りの本がなく、原書にトライすることにした。海外の古書を購入するのは初めてだったが、非常に満足。急ぐ必要のない趣味の読書のこと、配達まで日数がかかるのは、気にならなかった。スラスラと英文が読めるわけではないが、これを機に、自然と、英文法の復習をすることにもなり、アインシュタインにも、書店にも、前の持ち主にも感謝です。
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Mary Ann Bergman
5.0 out of 5 stars A great scientist's thoughts about world politics and human society
Reviewed in the United States on 17 October 2011
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Einstein: Essays in Humanism (1933-1949)
Albert Einstein was undoubtedly the most famous and revolutionary scientist of the 20th Century, known especially for his special and general theories of relativity, his explanation of the photoelectric effect, his realization that matter could be converted into immense amounts of energy, and his studies in cosmology. But he also had wide-ranging beliefs about politics and social affairs. This book, now available as a Kindle e-book, is a collection of 43 essays and talks that were written for specific occasions. They cover a variety of topics that interested him and in several cases provide useful lessons for our own time.
The first part of the collection, through Essay 20, is concerned with pre- and post-World War II concerns. Einstein, himself a lifelong pacifist, argued for a world government that shared a common pool of armaments and was capable of keeping the peace among fractious national governments. He didn't think that the United Nations, as constituted with a Security Council and permanent-member veto power was going to work in the long run. He recommended a world government where delegates were directly elected by the people on a proportional basis. He recognized the great danger of atomic and nuclear weapons and advocated their strict control by the world government.
In politics, Einstein was a socialist and strongly advocated for such things as a planned economy, free education at all levels, and regulation of capitalist ventures. Today, he would be branded a Marxist, but he disapproved of the Soviet system as being too rigid and corrupt.
He advocated an active role for scientists in society and that science should help to shape government policies. He distrusted the military and spoke of the danger of a military takeover of science in order to use it for war-making purposes. In that, he anticipated Eisenhower's farewell address about the dangers of a military-industrial complex.
The next set of essays are brief descriptions of the scientific achievements of several famous scientists: Newton, Kepler, Marie Curie, Max Planck, and less well-known others. There is also a eulogy to Mahatma Gandi.
The final part of the book is devoted to Jewish issues and Zionism. Although Einstein was not religious in a traditional sense (his beliefs were strongly influenced by Spinoza), he nevertheless supported Zionism, with some misgivings, and was greatly concerned with the future of European Judaism after World War II and the Holocaust. Interestingly, he originally thought that it would be a mistake for Jewish refugees to migrate to Palestine and hoped that the U.S.would see fit to accept them. Then, he was initially opposed to carving out a separate Jewish state in Palestine, but advocated rather naively that Jew and Arab live side by side in peace in a unified Palestine. Later, he modified these views in light of actual developments. He was offered the mostly ceremonial position of President of Israel, but he declined.
Finally, there is an appended biography of Einstein, along with photographs taken at various stages of his life, and a list of acknowledgements.
I found this book to be fascinating to read, both for its historical perspective on problems of his day and for insights into problems that continue into our time. Einstein was a good writer and had a good grasp of English, so I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that he wrote all these essays himself. Occasionally, the writing is somewhat convoluted and not as clear as it could be for a modern reader, but mostly it is quite readable. Those who would like to know how a great scientific mind looked at problems of human society will value this collection of essays.
Footnote, added 6 Sept 2012: Another collection of writings by Einstein, "Out of My Later Years," published about the same time as "Essays in Humanism," contains most but not all of these essays in the four sections titled Public Affairs, Science and Life, Personalities, and My People. "Out of My Later Years" also contains several of Einstein's scientific papers and essays, with some earlier ones translated from German.
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J. Hughes
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Take...
Reviewed in the United States on 10 March 2013
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I won't claim to agree with many of the ideas that Einstein sets forth in this small collection of essays, but I will say that they were well laid-out and certainly provided fodder for deeper reflection. I think that everyone knows who Einstein is but like me, have spent little time getting to know Einstein. The internet is rife with supposed quotes from Einstein leaving people to wonder what Einstein actually said and thought. If this is you then I suppose this book will begin to help you resolve those questions as you get to know Einstein's political and moral convictions in a very clear and concise manner. Some of his thoughts were things I would have expected to read based on the little bit that I knew about him while others left me a little surprised and amused. Again, the arguments are well-laid out but they are not bulletproof and there are a few things he said which I felt expressed a naivety concerning human nature. Nevertheless, in the context of his own time and place in history they made sense. This is certainly a piece that reflects the era it was written in, yet many of the messages are relevant for the modern world.
Einstein was first and foremost a socialist and I am curious now to know how much of a backlash he felt about this in an era of the "McCarthy Kangaroo Trials." To my knowledge this did not have any serious repercussions even though I am not sure how he avoided it during the Cold War period. He thinks that socialism is the answer to economic disparity and believes that it is a step towards genuine progress. There is a marked difference in his generation vs. ours because many in our time reject the notion of progress while Einstein thought that it was attainable. Einstein thinks that human have contradictory elements to their nature that makes them self-centered while also socially dependent. He felt that it was the workers who created the goods and services and that these very people feel that they have been robbed by the capitalist who ultimately steals it and exploits for his own benefit. In addition to economic issues Einstein discusses the relationship between races in America and the benefits and woes that scientific development has upon society at large. While he understand that technology has the power transform society it also has a dark side that could result in catastrophic proportions.
A majority of the work has Einstein discussing the pertinence of a supranational organization that will ultimately trump the authority of individual nations. He does briefly acknowledge the danger of such a power but dismisses it because he feels that individual nations and the threat of war pose a much greater danger than a supranational group that overseas the governments of the world. Again, Einstein is living in the era of time where Russia and America are engaged in serious hostility. He urges America to be willing to move toward this existence citing that Russia will follow their lead once it is clear that America is not seeking to harm Russia but to live in world peace. There is an exchange written in this book between a Russian scientist and Einstein. The Russian resisted Einstein idea of a supranational organization citing that this would be a way that America seek to impose capitalism on the world at large. Einstein of course, was sympathetic to this because he himself did not believe in capitalism. However, he stands firmly for America and seems to have a favorable opinion of the nation that took him in and made him one of her own.
Einstein's greatest concern was the issue of the bomb and it becomes very clear that he feels that he has a sense of responsibility to insure that the bomb is not used. The creation of bomb he saw as necessary because he understood that this could have been developed and used by Germany during WWII, but he laments that it exists in the present and is essentially being used to create tensions as well as distrust throughout the world. This was one of the central reasons that he thought that a supranational organization needed to exist. Einstein thought that patriotism was very harmful and was something to government could use to advance their own agendas. Essentially, Einstein sees a world without class, social, or national distinctions. That does not mean that he thinks that there should be one language or culture yet he never actually explains how that it suppose to work. Culture itself is something that would need to be more homogeneous in order to relieve any and all tensions and this does not even account for tensions caused by religious interests. This is one of the reasons I suggested that there was some naivety on his part. He fails to take into account the force and power that culture plays upon individual groups and society at-large. His greatest fear is that the bomb will be used to eradicate some sector or all of humanity and perhaps he did not consider that the bomb is its own restrainer. That is, the threat of the bomb has been enough to deter it from being used through the cold war and into the modern period.
Einstein addresses a number of other less important issues that prove to shine a light on the soul of Einstein and give us a window into his thought life. Some of the articles are addresses about Scientists and friends who made a significant impact in his life and in the world. He discusses their research and sometimes expresses personal feelings or thoughts about the individual. As far as I could tell, each individual was someone who was already deceased at the time of the essay, and only some of them were people that Einstein actually knew. He also talks about the importance of the role played by Zionism in the Jewish community. He praised it as a powerful force in keeping the community together and keeping the Jewish people alive. He supported a return to the homeland but he did not necessarily support a Jewish nation and thought that if Jews did the right thing they would do their best to work together and co-exist peacefully with the Arabs who lived in Palestine. He saw the creation of the Jewish state as something that was detrimental and a step backwards in the development of humanity. This had to do less with the Jews and more to do with the fact that Einstein thought that the way to insure peace was to promote the idea of a global community and he saw individual nations as a deterrent to that process.
Overall, this book was well-worth reading. Many of the conclusions that Einstein reached were ideas that did not resonate with me. I am not a socialist, I do NOT believe in supranational organizations, I do believe in individual nations and the creation of the Jewish state in Palestine. However, I am not afraid to read an opposing opinion and give it some consideration. I think that Einstein had noble intentions and was looking at things from the angle of one who participated in the creation of the world's most dangerous invention. He lived in a different time, a different place, and had seen humanity at its best and its worst. I think we can all share Einstein's apprehension about the bomb and should recognize how important it is for nations to cooperate and make the world a safer place. Even now, our eyes have turned toward North Korea as they test their own nuclear power capabilities and we see the horrible possibilities that the bomb could release upon the future. Einstein had some good points that have to be taken into consideration. Again, this is a refreshing book with an interesting view point and agree or not one thing is certain: Einstein cannot be easily dismissed.
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Trent P. McDonald
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on 7 January 2012
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I remember as a teen reading a biography of Einstein. I came away with the idea of a person who was clueless in everyday matters and, though I didn't know the term, Asperger's. Reading this collection of writings and speeches I would came to very different conclusion. Einstein cared deeply about people and the world around him. He was very empathetic to the plight of others.
As written in another review, this is divided into broad subject matters. I had to smile at the more political writings since they read like the current Occupiers: the biggest problem with the US is that the majority of the economic power is in the hands of a very small percentage of the people.
I had 2 problems. Since this is a Kindle book I couldn't easily jump back to the bibliography as I started each new essay. I was always curious about the date and circumstance. On a rare occasion it was included in the text, but most of the time I had to guess. The other problem is there was a lot of repetition. The writings came from different sources - he often said pretty much the same thing but aimed at different people.
OK, those are very minor problems. Over all I found the essays fascinating. Einstein was a very good writer and these essays were easy to read yet put a lot of information in their few words. Highly recommended as a way to see a different side of Einstein.
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