I know that it is a hopeless undertaking to debate about fundamental value judgements. For instance, if someone approves, as a goal, the extirpation of the human race from the earth, one cannot refute such a viewpoint on rational grounds. But if there is agreement on certain goals and values, one can argue rationally about the means by which these objectives may be obtained.
Interpretation
Debating fundamental values can be futile, but rational discussion is possible when there is agreement on goals.
In this quote, Einstein highlights the challenge of debating fundamental value judgments, as these are deeply personal and often subjective. He suggests that while it is impossible to rationally argue against certain extreme viewpoints, fruitful discussions can occur when there is a shared understanding of common goals and values, allowing for rational debate about the means to achieve those ends.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about ethical dilemmas in philosophy classes.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
If I would follow your advice and Jesus could perceive it, he, as a Jewish teacher, surely would not approve of such behavior.
I want to know all Gods thoughts; all the rest are just details.
In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity.
I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
To me the worst thing seems to be a school principally to work with methods of fear, force and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity and the self-confidence of pupils and produces a subservient subject.
For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.
The belief that God will do everything for man is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself. It, too, is based on a lack of faith. We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition.
But the guilty person is only one of the targets of punishment. For punishment is directed above all at others, at all the potentially guilty.
It is our very search, our lust for the miraculous and magical, that hides from us the truth that simply to be, simply to know I am, is already the miracle that we seek. Everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
I have concluded the evident existence of God, and that my existence depends entirely on God in all the moments of my life, that I do not think that the human spirit may know anything with greater evidence and certitude.
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