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Mustafa Shaukat

Professor Aqila Zaman

Writing and Communication SS-100

19 October 2019

This essay is taken from a book called The World As I see it, written by Albert Einstein

The essay was originally published in "Forum and Century," vol. 84, pp. 193-194, the thirteenth

in the Forum series, Living Philosophies. In this essay, Einstein’s central claim is that humans

exist to peacefully interact with other fellow humans. Einstein writes this essay for a German

audience, at a time when Adolf Hitler has already come into power. Although Einstein makes

valid logical claims in this essay, he is ultimately unpersuasive in convincing his reader of the

purpose of human existence due to his incoherence and over-reliance of personal experience to

further his claims.

Einstein begins the essay by pursuing an inquiry on the meaning of human life. He claims

we exist for collaboration with other humans. Einstein notes that he benefits from the labor of

other human beings and hence feels a compulsion towards giving back to them. Furthermore, he

expresses his belief that material wealth is an unworthy pursuit for humans. Instead, Einstein

believes humans should attempt to connect with others more. Stemming from this, he expresses

grief over not being able to personally connect with members of his nation. He speaks in praise

of Democratic states such as the United States of America. In addition, he denounces war and

blames it on commercial interests. Einstein concludes the essay by sharing that he is not

traditionally religious but is highly appreciative of the spectacle of human existence.

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The central claim of the essay is that humans exist for peaceful interactions with other

human beings. This is supported by the idea that in the status quo labor of other people plays a

significant part in enriching our lives. The point at which the reader recognizes the exertion

others have done for them, they are likelier to look favorably upon them. Considering that they

are benefitting from the work of other people too, readers are likelier to feel obligated into

interacting positively with other humans.

In furthering his central claim, Einstein expresses aiming to find objective truth or

material wealth is either inevitably going to end up in failure or is a despicable goal in itself. He

labels finding objective truth in these fields as ‘unattainable’ to show emphasis on the futility of

this pursuit. The use of this logical claim is strategic as it denounces tradition aims humans have

for their lives. In an absence of these traditional aims the reader is forced to ponder upon what

the real aim of life should be and hence is referred back to Einstein’s central claim about

collaboration with other men. “Fellowship” with other men is implied to be attainable for larger

numbers of people. This is a reasonable implication as almost all humans can interact with other

humans but not all humans can be even close to acquiring objective universal truths.

However, he is ultimately unpersuasive in convincing his reader of the purpose of human

existence due to his incoherence and over-reliance of personal experience to further his claims.

Einstein shifts claims from one paragraph to the other without much linkage between

them. After denouncing the pursuit of happiness as basis for human existence, he directly begins

praising democratic states in the next paragraph. This lack of coherence in the essay means the

reader is often de-tracked while reading the essay and finds difficulty in understanding what the

purpose of the essay is. The lack of understanding of purpose means that it is unlikely that the

reader is persuasive as they are unclear of the broader point that is being made by the author. If
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the reader is unclear of the central claim and how it is being furthered to them they are unlikely

to be convinced of it

Moreover, the lack of coherence leads to a diversion of attention from one topic to the

other. The topics discussed are of great controversy such as religion, war and the purpose of

human existence. The sudden shifts in focus from one to the other makes the reader think of

different topics at different times. This is problematic as it may make readers lose interest in the

essay itself and zone-out from it because they may feel as if they are being bombarded with too

much information to digest. The fall in interest of the reader may make them unwilling to accept

Einstein’s claims as he may come off as overwhelming. This also means readers may not fully

read the essay or may not read it with the same level of focus which means they are likely to not

notice the nuanced logical claims in favor of the central claim when they are actually made.

Furthermore, Einstein uses personal experience to make assumptions such as his claim

that the United States of America has a president that be sufficiently responsible and rules for a

sufficiently long period of time. These are both, at best; contentious claims that Einstein needs to

qualify further in order for him to rely on them for his praise of the United States of America as

an efficient democratic state. Readers that do not intuitively agree with Einstein’s perspective of

the United States are given little reason to do so. This means that his unjustified praise of the

United States may end up decreasing his credibility in the eyes of the reader as they recognize

that Einstein is susceptible to flaws in argumentation. As a consequence, readers are more likely

to be wary of any support Einstein gives for his central claim as they may have logical leaps as

well.

Additionally, due to Einstein’s personal beliefs on religion he looks down upon those that

believe in an afterlife calling them ‘feeble souls’. This can not only be offensive to readers of
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deeply religious sentiments but is also unsubstantiated. Einstein does not give any logical

analysis of why people follow religion out of fear. Lacking any such analysis, Einstein is likely

to lose credibility in the eyes of logical and religious audience both. This audience is likelier to

be skeptical or turned away from the central claim Einstein tries to make as their perception of

the writer has worsened.

Einstein’s attempt at proving that the purpose of human life is collaboration between

humans is ineffective due to his large reliance on personal biases to form premises for

argumentation. When Einstein suggests we owe a duty to other humans because of the labor they

provide to us, there is little logical analysis or statistical data he uses to back the claim that other

humans give us benefits. Readers that do not intuitively share this view, may very reasonably

believe that other humans cause them harm by way of theft of murder in society that outweigh

the benefits that the labor of other humans give us. This is why it is essential for Einstein to

prove that other humans generally cause more benefits than harm in order to convince readers of

their duty to them. Furthermore Einstein misses out on the opportunity to use descriptive

imagery in order to invite sympathy for the labor other humans give to us. If imagery illustrating

the hard-working hours of labor and the little compensation they get was to be used, readers are

much more likely to be able to intuitively buy the claim that we owe other humans a duty hence

should be collaborating with them. Absent any such emotional appeal and due to the gaps in his

logic Einstein’s smaller claims in his larger arguments remain unconvincing. As a result,

although Einstein makes valid logical claims in this essay, he is ultimately unpersuasive in

convincing his reader of the purpose of human existence due to his incoherence and over-

reliance of personal experience to further his claims.

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