"...he dedicated himself honestly and sometimes courageously to actions that he felt transcended selfish desires in order to encourage human progress and preservation of individual freedoms." (p. 393)
Isaacson ends chapter 17 with a comment that, in my opinion, seems to encompass how Einstein lived his life in general as a human being and, more specifically, as a scientist. Using the scope of After Virtue, I interpret Isaacson's comment to mean that Einstein was dedicated to the advancement of the human race, a devotion he clearly showed through his work as a scientist. Einstein thought beyond the allures of fame and recognition (external goods), and simply aimed to become an excellent scientist in adding knowledge to the world (internal good). I think this quote is significant, as it shows that Einstein's virtues as a scientist extended to his life as a human being in general.
Last week we discussed how Einstein matured and transformed as a scientist. We posed questions regarding how his actions changed as he grew older, and how he embodied the scientific virtues during these times. Yet, there are some things about Einstein that seem to never have changed. His distraction, for example, usually defined by a devotion to another theory/though experiment/group of equations, never wavered throughout his life. While we may question if Einstein maintained every scientific virtue we've seen up to this point, we cannot say that his devotion to science and his devotion to achieving the internal standards of excellence in science were ever lost.
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