Context of Albert Einstein's quote “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind”
This much-circulated Einstein quote has some interesting sidelights. It was written in the paper 'Science, Philosophy and Religion', that Einstein prepared for initial meeting of the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York City (9-11 Sep 1940).
In Ralph Keyes, The Quote Verifier (2006), 51, Keyes compares Einstein's own subsequent quote:
“Epistomology without contact with science becomes an empty scheme. Science without epistomology is—insofar as it is thinkable at all—primitive and muddled.”
Alice Calaprice, in The Quotable Einstein (1996), 153, compares the earlier quote by Immanuel Kant:
“Notion without intuition is empty; intuition without notion is blind.”
Calaprice states Einstein made this quote in a written contribution to the Symposium, and gives its date as 1941, the date of publication (?) of the Symposium proceedings. Calaprice cites Einstein Archive 28-523; and Einstein's Ideas and Opinions, 41-49.
Einstein laid out his agnostic views on religion late in his life, when on 3 Jan 1954, he wrote a letter of thanks, in German, to Jewish philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a copy of his book, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. In this correspondance, written in the year before his death, Einstein explained his view of religions as “childish superstition:”
“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”
“For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions,” the letter continues. “And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”
The letter has changed hands at ever-increasing prices, and in 2012 was sold on eBay, with bids starting at $3 million, just four years after it fetched $404,000 at auction. The lot included the letter and envelope, with its stamp and postmark. With two bids, the final sale price to an anonymous buyer when the auction closed on 18 Oct 2012 for was reported as $3,000,100.
This much-circulated Einstein quote has some interesting sidelights. It was written in the paper 'Science, Philosophy and Religion', that Einstein prepared for initial meeting of the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York City (9-11 Sep 1940).
In Ralph Keyes, The Quote Verifier (2006), 51, Keyes compares Einstein's own subsequent quote:
“Epistomology without contact with science becomes an empty scheme. Science without epistomology is—insofar as it is thinkable at all—primitive and muddled.”
Alice Calaprice, in The Quotable Einstein (1996), 153, compares the earlier quote by Immanuel Kant:
“Notion without intuition is empty; intuition without notion is blind.”
Calaprice states Einstein made this quote in a written contribution to the Symposium, and gives its date as 1941, the date of publication (?) of the Symposium proceedings. Calaprice cites Einstein Archive 28-523; and Einstein's Ideas and Opinions, 41-49.
Einstein laid out his agnostic views on religion late in his life, when on 3 Jan 1954, he wrote a letter of thanks, in German, to Jewish philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a copy of his book, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. In this correspondance, written in the year before his death, Einstein explained his view of religions as “childish superstition:”
“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”
“For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions,” the letter continues. “And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”
The letter has changed hands at ever-increasing prices, and in 2012 was sold on eBay, with bids starting at $3 million, just four years after it fetched $404,000 at auction. The lot included the letter and envelope, with its stamp and postmark. With two bids, the final sale price to an anonymous buyer when the auction closed on 18 Oct 2012 for was reported as $3,000,100.
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