Einstein, Stoic?

Here’s a pretty serious argument for why Albert Einstein was a Stoic

Einstein sticking his tongue out, from https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/albert-einstein-tongue-1951/, original photo credit by Arthur Sasse.

I’ve been into Einstein, of late. Some time ago I published an essay on his epistemology, which I think is perfectly sensible and ought to be taken seriously by both scientists and philosophers, not to mention everyone else. I then read (and briefly reviewed) the very good biography by Walter Isaacson. (Also check out Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin, as well as an essay I wrote about his crucial contribution to the Declaration of Independence.)

While enjoying Isaacson’s book, I was reminded of a short essay Einstein wrote in 1930, entitled “What I believe,” published in the collection Living Philosophies and available in the public domain. Let’s take a look and see the extent to which Einstein, I think, was a Stoic, even though as far as I know he never mentioned Stoic philosophy explicitly. (He did read and mention Baruch Spinoza, who was in turn heavily influenced by the Stoics.)

“Man is here for the sake of other men — above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

This is a clear statement of the Stoic view that the point of life is to live “according to nature,” and that since human nature is that of a rational and social creature, this means to do our best to live well with others, whether they are our close relatives and friends or complete strangers on the other side of the planet. Compare:

“It is of course required of a man that he should benefit his fellow-men — many if he can; if not, a few; if not a few, those who are nearest; if not these, himself. For when he renders himself useful to others, he engages in public affairs.” (Seneca, On Leisure 3.5)

Einstein continues:

“I do not believe we can have any freedom at all in the philosophical sense, for we act not only under external compulsion but also by inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying — ‘A man can surely do…