English Topic: Prose Lesson: Albert Einstein’s – Ideas and Opinions ON FREEDOM (Part II) Duration: 00:20:22 Albert Einstein’s – Ideas and Opinions -­‐ PartII Module 1: Recap of first part of the essay and introduction to “On
Freedom”
T: This is the second lesson we are doing on Einstein’s Ideas and
Opinions. Here we shall study his views “On Freedom” where he
describes the various types of freedom.
But before we do that I want to ask you a few questions to see what you
remember of the previous lesson. Tell me the name of the piece we read
earlier.
S1: “The World as I See It”
T: That’s right. Can you tell me what was the goal of life advocated by
Einstein there?
S2: He said a simple and frugal life was the best one, a life in which
people recognize their debt to society and work towards repaying it by
working hard for the welfare of others.
T: Good. Now tell me what Einstein considers the ideal form of
government and why?
S3: Democracy. He says democracy is his ideal because it does not
idealize any one person. It gives equal importance and respect to all
individuals.
T: Excellent. Now tell me why he hates the military system.
S4: Because it is for people who do not use the brain. The military
system supports war which he as a pacifist cannot support. He also feels
that enforced military service makes a person lose his individuality and
become a machine. Then the emotions which he feels such as patriotism
also become mechanical.
T: OK, that is very good. Now tell me what are his views on God.
S5: Einstein believes that God is an impersonal model of Reason. He
does not believe in a God who rewards or punishes.
T: How does he define true religiosity?
S6: He says that the emotion of finding the mystery of existence as
beautiful and knowing that it is inexplicable is the definition of true
religiosity. Therefore he describes himself as religious because he
believes that there is a divine design hidden in every aspect of nature.
T: That is very good. I see that you remember all the ideas of Einstein
which we discussed in the first lesson. Now let us see what we shall
discuss in this lesson.
Module2: BRIEF SUMMARY OF EINSTEIN’S VIEWS on
Freedom:
T: In the part which is entitled “On Freedom” Einstein argues that
people have the freedom to think what they like but these thoughts
should not be harmful to others. Just aiming to satisfy physical needs
are no enough to ensure freedom. Complete freedom means the freedom
to express our intellectual and artistic selves. But it is not enough to
have laws or ensure external freedom. He stresses the fact that internal
freedom is as important as external freedom.
In the second part entitled “Society and Personality” he says that the
only difference being human and animal society is the concept of
individuality which human beings encourage. This exceptional quality
he calls the most important requirement for the progress of any society.
Only exceptional individuals can take society forward. But today there
is a serious dearth of exceptional individuals and therefore society is
becoming decadent according to Einstein. He concludes by saying that
the struggle for existence should be reduced so that human beings have
the time and inclination to strive for exceptional achievements in
developing an ideal personality.
Einstein begins by saying that a person’s opinions cannot be questioned
because everyone is entitled to an opinion. As an example, he says if a
person wants to root out the human race from the world, no one can
object to such an opinion because it has no flaw of reason. But from the
point of view of values, there can be an argument because the aim of
existence should be to move towards a better life. For this goal to be
reached, Einstein says there are two important parameters: one is to
produce the necessities of life with minimum effort and the other is to go
beyond satisfying our physical needs and aim for intellectual and artistic
development. The next point he mentions is how to realize these two
goals. For the first one, he says the need to develop scientific
knowledge about the laws of nature and society is most important. He
describes scientific endeavor as the best method of progress because it
gives results which we cannot even dream of in advance. But for
science to progress, he says that we need the freedom to communicate
what is discovered. We need freedom to form judgments about
scientific research. We also need to the freedom to discuss, learn and
teach what is being discovered. That means, the most important need
for scientific progress is to ensure freedom in all intellectual activities.
Obviously for such a freedom to become real, the society of the time
should cooperate. Einstein says that a society in which the intellectual
lives in fear that his opinions will cause him discomfort or even danger
if he expresses them is a society which does not allow people to work
towards scientific breakthroughs. Such a situation will stop the scientist
from making known his intellectual experiments for making society
better. Therefore, real progress depends on giving freedom not only in
name but making proper laws to guarantee that every person in society
has the right to express his opinions without facing any punishment.
Module 3: REVIEWS ON FREDOM:
S: Madam, maybe he was referring to the suppression during Hitler’s
regime, especially as he was a Jew—a group that was tortured during the
Second World War.
S: You are right. Einstein suffered immensely at various points in his
life and he also saw many intellectuals being suppressed. Therefore he
is expressing this idea with so much force. After mentioning that law
should protect the rights of people and give them freedom to express
themselves, he says there is another factor which is needed. And that is
the attitude of people. He wants people to cultivate a spirit of tolerance
and not fight with those who express opinions counter to their own. He
says that what he is advocating is an ideal state of liberty which may not
be possible at all times, but this is no reason to give up hope. He says
that we should constantly strive to reach this ideal. Only then will it be
possible for society to progress with the help of free scientific,
philosophical and creative thinking. Two very important aspects of
freedom are discussed in the rest of this essay which we shall do in the
next module.
Module 4: INNER FREDOM:
In the next part of the essay Einstein speaks of another type of
development—that is, spiritual. For this he says that a second type of
outward freedom is needed. This is freedom to enjoy leisure, to have
both time and inclination for personal activities. A person who spends
all his time working hard to earn the basic necessities of life cannot
develop himself because he will be too tired after working so hard.
Therefore freedom of expression can only be exercised by a person who
has the time to think and gather ideas worth expressing. To have
sufficient leisure we need technological advancement. This will make
life easy and provide more free time for development of the spirit.
Einstein considers the development of spirit to be possible in two
areas—science and creativity. Apart from leisure, such development
also needs and inward freedom. By this Einstein means the freedom to
think elevated thoughts without restrictions placed by people in power or
by the rigid beliefs of society. Most people think in a routine manner
and out of habit. Such people are denying themselves the chance for
spiritual development. Einstein believes that nature gives the gift of
original thought to very few people and society should encourage them
to explore this talent without any restriction. He says that schools
should be careful not to stop this freedom by making strict rules or
teaching excessive spiritual rigidity. Instead, every school should
support and encourage the students in independent thinking. Einstein
concludes his ideas on freedom by saying that we should be constantly
aware of the possibilities of both inner and outer freedom so that our
spiritual development becomes possible and we attain perfection.
Unless we strive for this perfection at all times, the inner and outer life
of human beings cannot improve.
Module5: Discussion on Einstein’s Views:
S1: Einstein has made a very valid point here. We see how in the last
few decades the world is endangered. Terrorists, Maoists and such
people are not bad human beings. But they are conditioned to kill. They
have no freedom to think what is right and what is wrong. And most
people are so busy that they do not even think of spiritual development.
They live only in the material plane.
S2: People are busy but not with earning their living. Technology has
made life easy as Einstein said it would. But people are using their free
time in useless pastimes and not in developing their thought power for
the benefit of humanity.
S3: True. Einstein wants the mind to be free. But do we really find such
freedom today? Not at all. Hardly anyone has a single original thought.
People like to do what others are doing and think like others are
thinking. When we had no political freedom, India produced great
thinkers who changed the world by exercising complete freedom of
thought. Today we have political freedom but our thinkers are not able
to produce any original ideas for the benefit of the people of the country.
T: Both of you have mentioned very important points based on
Einstein’s udeas on freedom. Now let us see what he says about the lack
of great thinkers in the present day, a point which you have mentioned
just now.
MODULE 6: Language Work
Let us now learn a little about structures. Fluency in communication
depends on how varied your expression is. Therefore you must know
how to express a single idea in sentences of different structures. I shall
read some sentences from the essay we have just studied. Let us see if
you can change the sentences without changing their meaning. The first
sentence is: “How strange is the lot of us mortals!” it is an exclamatory
sentence. Make it into a simple assertive sentence.
V: The lot of us mortals is very strange.
T: right. Now make it into a question or interrogative sentence.
N: Isn’t the lot of us mortal’s strange?
T: good. Let me give you another exclamation to change into an
assertive sentence: “How passionately I hate them!
V: I hate them passionately.
T; that’s right. Now let us see how the degree of a superlative adjective
can be reduced to the comparative one. Try this sentence: “The most
beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious”.
N: “A more beautiful experience than the mysterious we can have”
T: You started correctly but then you changed the meaning. What you
should have said is ‘cannot’ in place of ‘can’. So the correct form is “A
more beautiful experience than the mysterious we cannot have.”
Anyway, remember that we can only learn when we make mistakes. So
don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
Next sentence: “I am strongly drawn to a frugal life.” Begin the sentence
with ‘a frugal life.’
V; A frugal life strongly draws me.
T: Excellent. What you have done is changed a passive sentence into an
active one. Now one more of the same type: “I am satisfied with the
mystery of the eternity of life.”
N: The mystery of the eternity of life satisfies me.
T: That’s very good. I think that is enough for the present. Let us
recapitulate that we discussed Einstein’s ideas about freedom here and
highlighted how he spoke about two types of freedom—external and
internal and said that science and technology as well as a supportive
society helps in making both kinds of freedom available.