The Common Language of Science
Broadcast as a radio address for the Science Conference in London in October 1941, Einstein reflected on how scientific reasoning transcends national borders and serves as a universal language for truth.
Full Transcript
First of all we must distinguish between the most objective goal of science—knowledge of facts and their interrelations—and the subjective human motives that impel scientific effort.
Language uses concepts to express thoughts, and scientific language refines these concepts so that their meanings are precise and unambiguous across all nations and cultures.
The super-national character of scientific concepts and scientific language is due to the fact that they have been set up by the best brains of all countries and all times. In solitary work and yet in cooperative spirit, they created the spiritual tools for the technical revolutions which have transformed the life of mankind in the last centuries.
Science as something existing and complete is the most objective thing known to man. But science as something coming to be, as a goal, is just as subjective and psychologically conditioned as any other branch of human endeavor.
We must strive to ensure that this universal language is used not for destruction, but to unite humanity in the shared pursuit of truth.
Defining Key Excerpts
"The super-national character of scientific concepts and scientific language is due to the fact that they have been set up by the best brains of all countries and all times."
"Science as something existing and complete is the most objective thing known to man."
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