Summary:
Discusses a 1932 correspondence between Einstein and Freud, two of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. Provides details of the letter, in which Einstein asked Freud if humanity could ever be free from war.
Sigmund Freud's response to Albert Einstein's intricate questions about war and man's violent human nature are very complex and sophisticated. Freud begins by strongly substituting the term "might" with "violence." He than briefly discusses man's aggressive human nature, making an analogy to the animal kingdom to convey man's reasons for going to war. Freud states that group force was used in small communities to decide points of ownership, then came physical force, and now the weapon's have arrived. (Freud, 20) Freud, unlike Einstein, tends to look more to the past for answers, while Einstein has a tendency to stay in the present while contemplating the future.
Freud's answer finally arrives after discussing the history of everyone from the Mongols and Turks to the Romans and French. In paragraph 24, Freud says, "There is but one sure way.....
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