They are unknowable for what they are in themselves. In line with Kantian epistemology, these objects, these things, that Einstein refers to are literally everything there is in the universe. And Païs reports him as saying in his later years: “Science without epistemology is-in so far as it is thinkable at all-primitive and muddled.” The phrase has explicit philosophical import - how we may connect words to things that are not words underlies all 0f human inquiry. Perhaps his most informative was the statement: “A religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance of those superpersonal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation.” The phrase ‘superpersonal objects’ is important - not supernatural, or spiritual, or divine, one notices. Quips about God and dice aside, his scientific ethos can be associated with a theology as nuanced as the quote used as the title of Païs biography: “Subtle is the Lord but malicious He is not.”Įinstein made only a few explicit comments about religion. Yet I am impressed by his intuitive understanding of the subject and its relevance to his scientific work. Although he had a lifelong interest in philosophy, Einstein had a limited background in the subject, mainly Kant and Plato.
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