Siyang P3

March 22, 2016

Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud
THESIS
Freuds ideas are just as revolutionary as Einsteins. Albert Einstein, a German
physicist, was considered as one of the most influential and revolutionary physicist of
the 20th century. He was most famous for his proposal the concept of relativity, which
served to explain why scientific values are not constant when derived in different
locations and times. Contemporary to Einstein was Sigmund Freud, an Austrian
neurologist. He was referred to as the founder of psychoanalysis, which explained
why human act the way they act. Both Einstein and Freuds ideas were barely
accepted in the beginning because the community thought they were absurd.
However, they were later proven to be irreplaceably revolutionary.
DATA

Einstein proposed the general theories of relativity.

Einstein contributed to the development of quantum theory.
Freud invented the term psychoanalysis in 1896 and popularized the terms

conscious, unconscious, and conscience.

Freud developed psychoanalytic techniques and many are widely
implemented in clinical practices today.

ANALYSIS
Albert Einsteins theories of relativity countered Isaac Newtons idea. Einstein
proposed that light travels simultaneously to the movement of different observers, He
also said that waves can travel without a medium. These ideas were purely absurd
to established ones, and the people were plunged in confusion, thus uncertainty
prevailed. However, because of Einsteins proposals, the world viewed motion and
gravity in a totally different manner. Einsteins concept of relativity eventually allowed
us to correctly understand physics.
When quantum theory was first developed, Einstein became a critic of it because he
thought that the theory was somehow incomplete in its fundamental sense. So, he
studied about the topic, specifically on photoelectric effect. He later developed the
quantum theory of specific heat, a great contribution to quantum physics.

Siyang P3
March 22, 2016
Sigmund Freud was not the first person to invent the words conscious,
unconscious, or conscience, but he was the one who made the world knew about
it, and eventually gained the worlds attention until today. Back in his time,
psychoanalysis was not a common practice because there was supposed to be a
reason and explanation for every action that was conducted. However, Freud
insisted that human do certain things that are beyond reason. This is their
subconscious in act. Freuds idea was considered non-sense when he first
proposed.
Freud derived the different drives that cause a person to act in a specific way. His
theories suggest that humans have a dual nature of good and bad, and this nature is
related to the international dynamics of war. He then developed psychoanalytic
techniques based on his studies. Many of these techniques are used today in clinical
practices and to study about human psychology. Although the majority of the
community did not quite accept what Freud proposed during his time, Einstein was
one loyal admirer of his.
CONCLUSION
Most of the world today knows about Albert Einstein and praises his contributions to
the physics field, while Sigmund Freud may not have been as iconized. In reality,
Freuds ideas are just as revolutionary as Einsteins because both of them broke free
from rigid laws and established reasoning. In Einsteins case, his theory of relativity
countered against Newtons idea that the world operate according to absolute laws
of motion and gravity. In Freuds case, he proved that human does not necessarily
act rational all the time and not everything has a reason behind it. Just like
Einsteins, Freuds ideas plunged the community into confusion, because both
sounded crazy and did not seem to have been based on science like what previous
ideas did. However, through convincing experiments, the world gradually accepted
and understood what Einstein and Freud was trying to propose. Because Freuds
ideas strayed away from the normal mind, it served revolutionary as it provided a
deeper insight of the human brain that was never known before.

Siyang P3
March 22, 2016
SOURCES
Popova, M. (2013). Why War: Einstein and Freuds Little-Known Correspondence on
Violence, Peace, and Human Nature. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/05/06/why-war-einstein-freud/
Albert Einstein. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2016, from
https://thescienceclassroom.wikispaces.com/Albert Einstein
Husman, A. (n.d.). Psyography: Biographies on Psychologists. Retrieved March 22, 2016,
from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/sigmundfreud1.html
Beck, R. B., Ph.D., Black, L., B.A., M.Ed., Krieger, L. S., B.A., M.A., M.A.T., Naylor, P. C.,
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