\brief[Ina Carnap an Neurath, \ekll{Chicago,} 24.~August 1945]%
{Ina Carnap an Otto Neurath, 24. August 1945}{August 1945}\labelcn{1945-08-24-Ina-an Neurath}


\anrede{Dear Neurath,}

\haupttext{
I have been following the correspondence between Carnap\incarnap{} and you with ever increasing head-shaking. Now it has reached the point of sore feelings on all sides when I -- the ``of course impartial'' third -- feel obliged to toss in a few remarks of mine. It seems to me sort of tragic-comic that you two good old friends fight with each other rather than against the hostile world. The strange part is that each of you feels hurt and that I am sure that none of you means to hurt the other one. Well, such is life! If I had you both together with me and you were to ask for my confirmation about your main cause of justified\fnA{Msl. Einschub.} grievance: ``Is Carnap\incarnap{} ponderous and pedantic and a rubber-in-of-salt-into-sores?'' I would absolutely agree with you because that's what I have been telling him for 15 years. But if you were to ask me whether he is purposely unkind and insensitive to other people's hurt feelings -- I would not agree or only to that extent that I would admit that he is not considerate when he thinks there is no good cause for the other's feelings to be hurt. I can assure you that in a marriage of 15 years the matter has come up between us more than once and that's the conclusion to which I have come: he does not respect sore spots in the other fellow; if he thinks what he does or says is right he will do or say it and it's the other fellow's job to overcome his soreness. And furthermore, the nearer a person is to him, the less consideration he will take for his weaknesses and he is absolutely uncomfortable in talks with people with whom he has to take special precautions as to his sincerity. I assure you, it does not always make for an easy life, and I have been trying for all these years to get him to treat my weaknesses more carefully but with not much success. On the other hand, I do realize that most of the time when I feel hurt by him it is because of sore spots of mine, inferiority feelings or what have you. And thus, if in our imagined conversation he should appeal to me for confirmation of his main point -- that you are extremely touchy, have rather violent emotional reactions, do bully people into agreeing with you, etc. -- I should agree with him. You write that there has been a strain of tension all along through your relations, and that's perfectly true; as far as I have observed his side of the matter I know that it comes from his feeling that he always has to be on the defensive, and that -- though you may find it hard to believe -- he always has to restrain himself in order not to provoke you to highly emotional reactions. I suppose you don't know exactly how much aggressiveness and coercion there is in your way of doing things, but it's a fact. You already physically overpower Carnap\incarnap{} by your amazing ability to discuss for unlimited hours and by the sheer volume of your voice; time and again I have observed Carnap\incarnap{} trying to outshout you and ending up with a sore throat. Now you may rightly ask how come that you are having trouble with Carnap\incarnap{} and e.\,g. no with Morris\IN{\morris}\index{Morris, Charles} or Frank\IN{\frankphilipp}\index{Frank, Philipp}. Well, for that too I have my explanation: Carnap\incarnap{} is really emotionally more involved with you than the two others (he has much more gratitude towards you for certain things than you would give him credit for) and he is very sensitive to reproaches (justified and unjustified) for not being a \neueseite{}\zzz good friend. His feelings for you personally are full of friendliness and kindness, but he feels (and I agree) that these feelings for a friend \textkritik{should not influence professional decisions (of reviewers, editors, etc.), and still more he feels that nobody should have to be afraid that he risks personal friendships by such decisions}\fnA{Msl. Ersetzung am oberen Blattrand von \original{do not carry over to the professional relationship with him}.}. Morris\IN{\morris}\index{Morris, Charles} is quite a different chap (and what I say is of course influenced by the fact that I do not like him): he is extremely polite, in my opinion bordering on\fnA{Hsl. Einschub.} insincerity; he has the famous American talent for backslapping easy relations, staying on the surface of matters, and being a good fellow. Philipp Frank\IN{\frankphilipp}\index{Frank, Philipp} again is none of all that: he does not have Carnap's\incarnap{} earnest righteousness and also he has a certain mellowness, half wisdom, half ``Wurstigkeit''; it would never have occurred to him to drop his name even if he had felt like Carnap\incarnap{} did, for the simple reason that he would not have thought it important enough and that he would have been too lazy to write the attending letters. Ah, \textkritik{but that is}\fnA{\original{but's}} the difference between the Viennese temperament and the zealous Lutheran from Prussia! I do not try to excuse Carnap\incarnap{}, I am just trying to point out the way he is made. Yes, he could be induced to treat you with greater circumspection but that would not improve the friendship. He does not have the saving grace of a light touch and of a felicitous formulation which might soften the blows which he is striking in the name of science, impartiality, and other suchlike gods. But then again, perhaps you cannot have the charm and the reliability in one person! -- You are quite mistaken in thinking that he grieves you lightly, without troubling what your feelings will be. I saw him stewing for days, deeply unhappy, when suddenly the page proofs of your book came and Morris\IN{\morris}\index{Morris, Charles} gave him to understand that major changes were out of the question (not only because of the problems of your willingness to change and the expense involved, but also because of the somewhat tenuous relations between the Press and the encyclopedia project which might be strained still further by such changes -- they were very short on paper, etc.). And you should see how he sits and broods whenever one of your accusing letters arrives -- for days he is unable to settle down to his work! If you keep in mind his good personal feelings for you and the fact that no unkindness is meant, perhaps it will ease the tension; and if ever again you should be grieved by a professional act of his, you could take it -- at worst -- as a misjudgement and not as a personal offence.

Our life has not changed very much during the past years, particularly now that Carnap\incarnap{} is out of bed again and able to do many things which make up normal life. The 2 years in bed, combined with the uncertainty about an improvement were rather trying. But since he managed last year's teaching without a breakdown -- though not without considerable strain and effort -- we feel confident about the future even if he should not recuperate completely. At present we are in our little house in the New Mexico mountains (I have the car fixed so that he can make the trip lying). For the past two years we have a big German Shepherd dog who has become an important member of the family -- last winter we had her in Chicago, it's an ordeal for her and for us but there is no other choice. Carnap\incarnap{} is spending all his time on his big manuscript on probability -- which he thinks is going to be his most important book. A few papers of his have appeared in the last weeks, and you will get reprints as soon as they are available. But the probability book will take several more years.~\neueseite{} 

News begin to come slowly from Europe via American soldiers. Carnap\incarnap{} had a letter from his oldest daughter whose husband has been killed in the war, his other daughter's husband is a prisoner, they have no news about his son. No word as yet about Grelling\IN{\grelling}\index{Grelling, Kurt}. The sad news that Hosiasson\IN{\hosiasson}\index{Hosiasson-Lindenbaum, Janina} and her husband Lindenbaum\IN{\lindenbaum}\fnA{Msl. Einschub.}\index{Lindenbaum, Adolf} have been killed by the Nazis, but that Kotarbiński\IN{\kotarbinski}\index{Kotarbiński, Tadeusz} (of whom it is said that he has behaved exceedingly well with regard to Jewish colleagues and that he had refused an offer to come to America because he felt that he had to stay with them -- again typically American to offer refuge to the non-Jew rather than the Jews) is well and is active again. Odd bits about surviving Jewish friends: Flitner\IN{\flitner}\index{Flitner, Wilhelm} in Hamburg (whose wife is Jewish) wrote recently that they are all right, a Jewish Frenchman whose wife is a friend of mine has safely come back from a German prison camp though without teeth and emaciated -- just stray bits of news. Let us know when you hear about common acquaintances!

The last weeks have brought so many historic news that personal ones appear less significant: the atomic bomb\index{atomic bomb}, the election in England, the likely peace with Japan. Grateful though we are for the peace, we wish it had not come about through the atomic bomb. The existence of this terrible power in \textkritik{}\fnA{\original{a}}\zzz the hands of a few nations appears a great danger. Much of the research has been going on practically under our very noses: the super-hush research lab is only 18 miles away from Santa Fe and we have seen some of the explosions and clouds\index{atomic bomb} for years.

Exactly a month from today we shall be leaving again for Chicago, where classes begin on the first of October. We have a rather dreary apartment there (the only one we could find last year) and we envy you your hill. But on the other hand we have been unusually lucky with our long stay here in Santa Fe during the Rockefeller\index{Rockefeller}-grant years.

Give our love to Mary\IN{\reidemeistermarie}\index{Neurath, Marie \ekl{Mieze}} -- and my admiration for her doing much of the Isotype\index{Isotype} work in addition to being a housewife, since I am only a housewife!

With best regards and wishes,}

\grussformel{Yours,\\Ina}\Apagebreak

\ebericht{Brief, msl., 3 Seiten, \href{https://doi.org/10.48666/846791}{ON 218 (Dsl. RC 102-55-10)}; Briefkopf: msl. \original{August 24, 1945}.}