Concepts

All our thinking is of this nature, a free play with concepts.

#Albert Einstein#Thinking#Play#Concepts#Free Play

All our thoughts and concepts are called up by sense-experiences and have a meaning only in reference to these sense-experiences. On the other hand, however, they are products of the spontaneous activity of our minds; they are thus in no wise logical consequences of the contents of these sense-experiences. If, therefore, we wish to grasp the essence of a complex of abstract notions we must for the one part investigate the mutual relationships between the concepts and the assertions made about them; for the other, we must investigate how they are related to the experiences.

#Albert Einstein#Wisdom#Hope#Knowledge#Experience#Wise#Art#Mind#Wish#Spontaneous#Logical#Abstract#Mutual#Consequence#Essence#Hands#Made#Notion#Activity#Assertion#Complexes#Concepts#Our Thoughts#Products#Related#Ifs

All these constructions and the laws connecting them can be arrived at by the principle of looking for the mathematically simplest concepts and the link between them.

#Albert Einstein#Construction#Law#Links#Principles#Simplest#Concepts#Connecting

Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens.

#Albert Einstein#Forget#Accepting#Achieve#Authority#Given#Concepts#Proven

Considered logically this concept is not identical with the totality of sense impressions referred to; but it is an arbitrary creation of the human (or animal) mind.

#Albert Einstein#Animal#Mind#Creation#Impression#Arbitrary#Humans#Identical#Concepts#Totality#Humankind#Perception

Don’t think about why you question, simply don’t stop questioning. Don’t worry about what you can’t answer, and don’t try to explain what you can’t know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind - to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.

#Albert Einstein#Men#Reality#Thinking#Worry#Miracle#Curiosity#Trying#Mystery#Construction#Reason#Eternity#Holy#Questioning#Awe#Contemplating#Human Mind#Mind#Answers#Behinds#Each Day#Feels#Formulas#Humans#Littles#Structure#Tools#Use#Concepts#Marvelous#Knows#Eternity Of Life

I believe that the first step in the setting of a real external world is the formation of the concept of bodily objects and of bodily objects of various kinds.

#Albert Einstein#Real#Believe#World#I Believe#Kind#Various#First Steps#Firsts#Steps#Concepts#Formation#Objects#Setting#Settings

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.

#Albert Einstein#Beautiful#Religious#Believe#Profound#Emotion#Natural#Mystical#Natural Law#Interfere#Law#Said#Concepts#Sensations

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 there is any such concept as a God, it is a subtle spirit, not an image of a man that so many have fixed in their minds. In essence, my religion consists of a humble admiration for this illimitable superior spirit that reveals itself in the slight details that we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds.

#Albert Einstein#Beautiful#Religious#Humble#Men#Profound#Mind#Emotion#Spirit#Admiration#Mystical#Perceive#Able#Details#Essence#Fixed#Frail#Said#Subtle#Feeble Minds#Concepts#Ifs#Sensations#Superiors

It must be conceded that a theory has an important advantage if its basic concepts and fundamental hypotheses are ‘close to experience,’ and greater confidence in such a theory is certainly justified. There is less danger of going completely astray, particularly since it takes so much less time and effort to disprove such theories by experience. Yet more and more, as the depth of our knowledge increases, we must give up this advantage in our quest for logical simplicity in the foundations of physical theory.

#Albert Einstein#Knowledge#Experience#Science#Giving Up#Giving#Simplicity#Effort#Important#Justified#Logical#Danger#Conceded#Advantage#Depth#Foundation#Fundamentals#Hypothesis#Increase#Quests#Theory#Concepts#Greater#Ifs

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere… Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

#Albert Einstein#Religion#Death#Goal#Men#Imagine#Poor#Morality#Moral#Religious#Ethical#Ethical Behavior#Behavior#After Death#Atheism#Atheist#Dying#Social#Bases#Humans#Ideas#Needs#Punishment#Rewards#Should#Spheres#Ties#Undermining#Unjust#Way#Positive Atheism#Concepts#Has Beens#Ifs#Seems#Reward And Punishment#Agnostic#There Is No God#Religion God#God Is Not Great#There Being No God#God And Science#Science God

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem-the most important of all human problems.

#Albert Einstein#Believe#Goal#Simplicity#Understanding#Important#Moral#Belief#Admiration#I Believe#Imperfect#Spinoza#Problem#Imagine#Logical#Obligation#Moral Obligation#Values#Able#Feels#Humans#Ideas#Knowledge And Understanding#Order#Spheres#Treats#Values And Morals#Views#Concepts#Human Problems#Seems

Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world.

#Albert Einstein#Science#Mind#World#Determined#Creation#Human Mind#Humans#May#Concepts#Seems#Physical Science#Quantum Theory#Of My Mind#Power Of The Mind#Investing

Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.

#Albert Einstein#Religion#Soul#Empty#Impression#Body#Combination#Concepts#Reproduction#Seems#Sensory#Atheism#Atheist#Atheistic#Spiritualism#Dualism

The fact that man produces a concept “I” besides the totality of his mental and emotional experiences or perceptions does not prove that there must be any specific existence behind such a concept. We are succumbing to illusions produced by our self-created language, without reaching a better understanding of anything. Most of so-called philosophy is due to this kind of fallacy.

#Albert Einstein#Philosophy#Emotional#Men#Understanding#Perception#Language#Kind#Illusion#Existence#Prove#Fallacy#Behinds#Doe#Facts#Produce#Reaching#Self#Concepts#Dues#Succumbing#Totality#Religious Intolerance

Through the release of atomic energy, our generation has brought into the world the most revolutionary force since prehistoric man’s discovery of fire. This basic force of the universe cannot be fitted into the outmoded concept of narrow nationalisms.

#Albert Einstein#Energy#World#Revolutionary#Universe#Nationalism#Men#Atomic Energy#Discovery#Fire#Force#Generations#Our Generation#Release#Concepts#Prehistoric Man#Prehistoric