D O C U M E N T S 2 0 0 , 2 0 1 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 4 2 0 1
200. To Ernst Cassirer[1]
[Berlin, after 27 January
1924][2]
Esteemed Colleague,
I send you herewith a genuinely American matter. As I do not know Mr. Wind
personally,[3]
I ask you please to add the necessary information that works in his
favor. I put my signature on it because otherwise the impression is given that I
wasn’t prepared to provide the information.
Genuinely American: Stamp on the back-side, drawer 425, value × dollars.
Your finely polished lecture left a great impression on me; probably no one here
could have done it so ably. The matter with a priori causality in Nature reminded
me of an analogous joke out of my “youth.” Lieutenant: “I have damned good luck
with women. I recently sat down on a bench at the zoo. An attractive girl was al-
ready sitting on it.” Pitiful high-handedness. Aren’t the notions of cow and donkey
also a priori? One doesn’t see a donkey but just has certain visual perceptions that
one assigns a priori under a donkey-idea……that’s what the Kantian should say.
The donkey-idea is not contained in experience and therefore cannot originate from
it, either. I seriously believe that whoever says so is in a certain sense right, not
more and not less than if he argued analogously regarding causality. (You are going
to give me a nice flogging when we see each other again!)
Cordial regards, yours,
A. Einstein.
201. To Betty Neumann
[Berlin,] Monday morning [28 January 1924]
My dear Betty,
In lengthy, laborious battles I have now arrived at the desired goal, i.e., a proper
peace treaty with my
wife,[1]
according to which my right is acknowledged to invite
you to see me two afternoons a week or to go out with you as I wish. And the im-
portant point is, she’s quite all right with it! Not often have I been so thrilled and
proud about the solution to a problem. If you come to visit me tomorrow, Tuesday
afternoon around 3 o’clock, for a festive inauguration of this wonderful custom,
then I’ll tell you more about these wondrous events and changes. She doesn’t even
feel furious about the dear
Mühsams[2]
anymore and said during the discussion, “on