Albert Einstein over "unseres Meisters Spinoza" - Einstein's God & #Spinoza’s God

Einstein: ”I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of Human beings." [NYT, 25 April 1929, p. 60]

Uiteraard had ik blogs over Einstein & Spinoza – tamelijk veel blogs zelfs:

Op  01-04-2008 Spinoza op internetfora - over Spinoza’s God [en Einstein] - 31-08-2008 over Einsteins gedicht over Spinoza [cf.] - 03-11-2008 Einstein's belief on (Spinoza's) God - 19-07-2010 Einstein was weg van Spinoza - 23-08-2010 Einsteins (±Spinoza's) Gods- en religieopvatting werd almaar duidelijker - 17-12-2010 Einstein’s introductie op "Spinoza. Portrait of a Spiritual Hero" van schoonzoon Rudolf Kayser - 12-12-2010 Einstein beval lezing van de Ethica iedereen aan - 24-05-2011 Siegfried Hessing, Einstein & Spinoza - 13-11-2011 Vond Spinoza net als Einstein "dass die Natur schön und harmonisch ist?" - 09-10-2012 Albert Einstein over "unser wunderbarer Spinoza" -  01-11-2012 Spinoza en Einstein niet in de hemel, wel in 'Not in the Heavens' - 15-04-2014 Hoe moeilijk is toch Einstein's Spinoza's God te begrijpen en beschrijven - 01-08-2016 Robyn Arianrhod vergat Spinoza… [n.a.v. Robyn Arianrhod's 2003 boek Einstein’s Heroes]

Omdat ik bij mijn dagelijkse speurtochten op internet zo ongeveer wel minstens elke week een blog of video over Einstein’s God tegenkwam, heb ik jaren geleden besloten daar niet meer naar te verwijzen; vooral daar het altijd weer over dezelfde teksten gaat en er zelden iets nieuws tussen zit. Vandaar dat op dit medio 2017 begonnen nieuwe blog nog slechts deze twee blogs te vinden zijn:

9 oktober 2018 Brief waarin Einstein in 1954 schreef "wie wohl zuerst unser wunderbarer Spinoza mit aller Schärfe erkennt hat" weer onder de hamer - 4 december 2018 Vandaag wordt bij Christie’s in New York Einsteins befaamde “God Letter” geveild – waarin hij ook verwijst naar Spinoza [Bief werd verkocht voor $ 2.892.500!]

Dat ik nu toch met dit blog kom heeft te maken met een mail die ik vorige week van Adèle Meijer kreeg, waarin ze schreef: "Op Quora, een wetenschappelijk discussieforum, kwam ik dit tegen: https://www.quora.com/Did-Einstein-believe-in-God .
Leuk toch?"
Naar aanleiding daarvan breng ik hier, na voorgaand overzicht van eerdere blogs,  drie 'paragrafen':   

1. eerst een overzicht van hoeveel boeken er over Einsteins God verschenen zijn (ik volsta met dit overzichtje van covers)

Of dit overzicht uitputtend is weet (denk) ik niet, maar ik denk niet dat ik er veel mis.  Vooral het hoofdstuk in  Walter Isaacson over Einstein's God geeft een voortreffelijk overzicht. Maar ook het hoofdstuk van Max Jammer dat ik hierna in de bibliografie vermeld. 

2. Kleine bibliografie over Einstein & Spinoza [deels 'n selectie uit de Duitse Spinoza Bibliografie] 

● Arne Naess, Einstein, Spinoza and God. Chapter 10 in: E. van der Merwe (ed.), Old and new Questions in Physics, Cosmology, Philosophy and theoretical Biology. New York:  1983, pp. 683-687. [PDF op BookSc]

● Michel Paty, Einstein et Spinoza. In: Spinoza - Science et Religion: De la Méthode Géométrique a l'interprétation de l'Écriture Sainte: Actes du Colloque organisé par Renée Bouveresse, au Centre Culturel International de Cerisy-la Salle du 20 au 27 septembre 1982. Collection dirigée par Michel Delsol. Paris:  Vrin, 1988, pp. 183-207.

● Michel Paty, “Einstein and Spinoza”, hoofdstuk in: Marjorie Grene and Debra Nails (eds.), Spinoza and the Sciences. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1986, pp. 267-302 [PDF te vinden op BookSC]
In de eerste alinea is het citaat te vinden dat ik in de kop van 't blog gebruik: "unseres Meisters Spinoza".

● Michel Paty, Einstein philosophe. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France (coll. « Philosophie d’aujourd'hui »), 1993, 584 pages.
Cf. review ervan Yvon Gauthier in: Philosophiques vol. 23, 1996 [PDF op BookSc]

 

● Cornelia Liesenfeld, Einsteins Spinozismus. In: Prima Philosophia Vol 4, #1 (1991), 73-105

● Cornelia Liesenfeld, "Einsteins spinozistische Ethik." In: Etienne Balibar, Helmut Seidel & Manfred Walther (Hrsg.), Freiheit und Notwendigkeit: Ethische und politische Aspekte bei Spinoza und in der Geschichte des (Anti-) Spinozismus. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1994: 219-224.

 

● Cornelia Liesenfeld, “Einsteins Zionismus - Einsteins Spinozismus.” In: Sabine S. Gehlhaar (Hrsg.), Jüdische Fragen als Themata der Philosophie. [Prima philosophia, Sonderheft #4]. Cuxhaven/Dartford: Junghans, 1996: 41-71

● Peter Pesic, "instein and Spinoza: Determinism and identicality reconsidered."In: Studia Spinozana, 12 - Thema: Spinoza and Ancient Philosophy; Special editorial team: Franco Chiereghin, Pierre-François Moreau, Gerassimos Vokos. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1996, pp. 195-203.

● Max Jammer, "Einstein and Religion. Physics and Theology. Princeton University Press, 1999, reprint 2011 - books.google
Chapter 1: "Einstein’s Religiosity and the Role of Religion in His Private Life" [geeft veel over Einsteins verhouding tot Spinoza] cf. off. PDF van Princeton]

 

● Herman De Dijn, Einstein en Spinoza (Mededelingen vanwege het Spinozahuis 64). Delft, Eburon, 1991, 15 p.

● Herman De Dijn, "Einstein and Spinoza: Science and Religion", in: David A. Boileau & John A. Dick (eds.), (eds.), Tradition and Renewal. Philosophical Essays commemorating the Centennial of Louvain's Institute of Philosophy. Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1992, 1-13.

● Herman De Dijn, "Over Einsteins visie op religie en wetenschap." In: Jochanan Eynikel (red.), De dobbelstenen van Albert Einstein. Over kosmische religiositeit (SPES-cahier 6). Antwerpen, Tertio, 2006, p. 15-22. [PDF]

● Herman De Dijn, “Science and Religion. Einstein and Spinoza”, in: Kritika & Kontext XVI:43 (2011), p. 114-129.  [tweetalig Slowaaks/Engels PDF]

● Arne Naess, “Einstein, Spinoza, and God.” Part B, Chapter 10 in: Alwyn Van der Merwe (ed.), Old and New Questions in Physics, Cosmology, Philosophy, and Theoretical Biology. Essays in Honor of Wolfgang Yourgrau. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012 - 920 pagina's – books.google en dit hoofdstuk als PDF bij BookSc]
[Alsof het  een geheel nieuw boek is en niet de heruitgave van het boek uit 1983 - zie bij eerste bolletje]

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3. Enige grepen uit het boek:

Albert Einstein, The Human Side. Selected and Edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, ^1e 1979. ^4e1989,

On 22 March 1954 a self-made man sent Einstein in Princeton a long handwritten letter-four closely packed pages in English. The correspondent despaired that there were so few people like Einstein who had the courage to speak out, and he wondered if it would not be best to return the world to the animals. Saying "I presume you would like to know who I am," he went on to tell in detail how he had come from Italy to the United States at the age of nine, arriving in bitter cold weather, as a result of which his sisters died while he barely survived; how after six months of schooling he went to work at age ten; how at age seventeen he went to Evening School; and so on, so that now he had a regular job as an experimental machinist, had a spare-time business of his own, and had some patents to his credit. He declared himself an atheist. He said that real education came from reading books. He cited an article about Einstein's religious beliefs and expressed doubts as to the article's accuracy. He was irreverent about various aspects of formal religion, speaking about the millions of people who prayed to God in many languages, and remarking that God must have an enormous clerical staff to keep track of all their sins. And he ended with a long discussion of the social and political systems of Italy and the United States that it would take too long to describe here. He also enclosed a check for Einstein to give to charity. On 24 March 1954 Einstein answered in English as follows:

I get hundreds and hundreds of letters but seldom one so interesting as yours. I believe that your opinions about our society are quite reasonable. It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. I have no possibility to bring the money you sent me to the appropriate receiver. I return it therefore in recognition of your good heart and intention. Your letter shows me also that wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. [pp. 42 – 44]

[…]

There is in the Einstein Archives a letter dated 5 August 1927 from a banker in Colorado to Einstein in Berlin. Since it begins "Several months ago I wrote you as follows," one may assume that Einstein had not yet answered. The banker remarked that most scientists and the like had given up the idea of God as a bearded, benevolent father figure surrounded by angels, although many sincere people worship and revere such a God. The question of God had arisen in the course of a discussion in a literary group, and some of the members decided to ask eminent men to send their views in a form that would be suitable for publication. He added that some twenty-four Nobel Prize winners had already responded, and he hoped that Einstein would too. On the letter, Einstein wrote the following in German. It may or may not have been sent:

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance-but for us, not for God. [p. 66]

[…]

A Chicago Rabbi, preparing a lecture on "The Religious Implications of the Theory of Relativity," wrote to Einstein in Princeton on 20 December 1939 to ask some questions on the topic. Einstein replied as follows:

I do not believe that the basic ideas of the theory of relativity can lay claim to a relationship with the religious sphere that is different from that of scientific knowledge in general. I see this connection in the fact that profound interrelationships in the objective world can be comprehended through simple logical concepts. To be sure, in the theory of relativity this is the case in particularly full measure. The religious feeling engendered by experiencing the logical comprehensibility of profound interrelations is of a somewhat different sort from the feeling that one usually calls religious. It is more a feeling of awe at the scheme that is manifested in the material universe. It does not lead us to take the step of fashioning a god-like being in our own image-a personage who makes demands of us and who takes an interest in us as individuals. There is in this neither a will nor a goal, nor a must, but only sheer being. For this reason, people of our type see in morality a purely human matter, albeit the most important in the human sphere. [69-70]

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Tot slot cf. deze tweet