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A survey such as this by one of the world's leading thinkers of his entire philosophical canon, is clearly as important as it is fascinating. It is a masterpiece of philosophical autobiography. ... Read more

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I felt an aching compassion for young men embarking in troop trains to be slaughtered
Bertrand Russell was an utmost clinical analyzer of the scriptures of his colleague-philosophers. With his penetrating mathematical insights he could easily translate their often dark and contorted formulations into plain comprehensible sentences and expose the real meaning and/or the inner contradictions of their highbrow wordings.

In this book, he exposes harshly the morass of linguistics and Wittgenstein's `Philosophical Investigations', demolishes William James, tells how he destroyed unintentionally Frege's life work and gives insightful comments on Tarski, Ryle and his own struggle with induction.

Astonishingly, the main influence on his life as a philosopher was not a philosophic problem, but World War I: `One effect of that war was to make it impossible for me to go on living in a world of abstraction.' It turned him away from pure mathematics.

Morass of linguistics
Bertrand Russell had no `sympathy with those who treat language as an autonomous province.' For him, `the essential thing about language is that it has meaning, that it is related to something non-linguistic.'
As Karl Popper said, linguistics is nothing more than cleaning one's spectacles.

Wittgenstein
Bertrand Russell was extremely harsh for Wittgenstein's second philosophical period (the `Philosophical Investigations'), where `we are now told that it is not the world that we are to try to understand but only sentences', nor the separation of `what may count as knowledge from what must be rejected as unfounded opinion.'
`The positive doctrines seem to me trivial and its negative doctrines unfounded.'

William James
B. Russell explains that for William James, `a belief is rendered true by the excellence of its effects'. More, William James `says that what he means is not that the consequences of the belief are good, but that the believer thinks they will be.'!

Ryle, Tarski
B. Russell doesn't agree with Ryle (`philosophy cannot be fruitful if divorced from empirical science'), but he agrees with Tarski `that truth consists in one sort of relation to facts, while falsehood consists in another sort of relation.'

In his characteristic sarcastic and vitriolic style, Bertrand Russell torpedoes in this book big chunks of modern `philosophy'. It is a must read for all those interested in philosophy and the way of the world.
... Read more

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Russell on Religion presents a comprehensive and accessible selection of Bertrand Russell's writing on religion and related topics from the turn of the century to the end of his life. The influence of religion pervades almost all Bertrand Russell's writings from his mathematical treatises to his early fiction.This comprehensive selection of writings offers a clear overview of the development of his thinking about religion.

Russell contends with religion as a philosopher, historian, social critic and private individual. The selections papers are arranged chronologically, and span Russell's thinking with his personal statements, and his views on religion and philosophy, religion and science, religion and morality and religion and history.This collection shows the development and diversity of Russell's thinking on religion and exposes the reader to all aspects of his work on this subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Russell on Religion
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers and one of its best-known free thinkers.Raised in a religiously liberal home, Russell abandoned liberal Christianity early on seeking a "religion of reason."Although he ultimately abandoned that as well, his views on religion remained complex.

This collection of Russell's writings on religious is organized by biographical accounts; religion and philosophy; religion and science; religion and morality; and religion and history. It contains most of Russell's most important work on the subject, such as the famous essay "Why I Am Not a Christian."I was disappointed however that it doesn't contain his famous debate with Fr. Copleston.

The introduction by Professors Greenspan and Andersson is excellent.The editors acknowledge the importance of Russell's work in this area, but also his weakness as a historian of religion.

A"Free Man's Worship."
As a freethinker, Bertrand Russell recognized that his approach toward religion was "somewhat complex" (p. 3; see also, "My Mental Development").Over the course of his life, Russell's attitudes toward religion evolved from an attempt to "preserve religion without any dependence on dogmas," to a more polemical stance (p. 3).Like Freud, Russell searched for the roots of popular religion in psychology, and found that the purpose of religion is to give respectability to the passions of fear, conceit, and hatred (p. 11, see also, "Has Religion Contributed to Civilization?").The writings Russell scholars Louis Greenspan and Stefan Anderson have collected in this volume are representative of Russell's "uncompromising opposition to religion" (p. 12), and offer an excellent passage into Russell's thoughts on the subject of religion.Greenspan and Anderson have organized Russell's writings into five sections, revealing the chronological development of their subject's thoughts on religion.

Russell believed that the only way to obtain liberation from suffering was to abandon any hope for private happiness, and to burn instead with a passion for eternal things independent of the ruin of the physical universe (pp. 20-21; see also, "The Free Man's Worship").For him, true wisdom meant knowing all, loving all, and serving all (p. 69, see also, "The Essence of Religion").Among present-day religions, he considered Buddhism the best because it focuses on the question of what Man is, rather than what the universe is (p. 74; see also, "The Essence and Effect of Religion").In his his seminal essay, "Why I am not a Christian," Russell advocated standing up and looking the world "frankly in the face.""A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage," he wrote;"it does not need a regretful hankering over the past, or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence.It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time towards a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create" (p. 91).

This intellectually stimulating collection of essays will appeal to readers interested in the subject of religion, and to those looking for an introduction to the philosophical, historical, critical, and private writings of Bertrand Russell.

G. Merritt ... Read more

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In 1916 Bertrand Russell was prosecuted and fined for publishing (in defence of a conscientious objector) 'statements likely to prejudice the recruiting and discipline of His Majesty's forces.' He was almost immediately afterwards dismissed from his Lectureship at Trinity College, Cambridge, by the College Council. This expulsion provoked a storm of protest and the true facts of the case became obscured by misconceptions, prejudices and uninformed gossip, to the discredit of the College. In 1942, therefore G. H. Hardy the mathematician printed for private circulation to another generation of Fellows at Trinity a full account of the incident in an attempt to explain what really happened. This is now made public. Besides provoking an authoritative record of a celebrated but misinterpreted episode in Russell's eventful academic career, this document contains interesting evidence about attitudes to pacifism in the First World War and in particular about the sympathies of such distinguished colleagues and contemporaries of Russell as Cornford, Housman, McTaggart and Whitehead. ... Read more

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The Problems of Philosophy is one of Bertrand Russell's attempts to create a brief and accessible guide to the problems of philosophy. Focusing on problems he believes will provoke positive and constructive discussion, Russell concentrates on knowledge rather than metaphysics.

If it is uncertain that external objects exist, how can we then have knowledge of them but by probability. There is no reason to doubt the existence of external objects simply because of sense data.

Russell guides the reader through his famous 1910 distinction between "knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description" and introduces important theories of Plato, Aristotle, René Descartes, David Hume, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and others to lay the foundation for philosophical inquiry by general readers and scholars alike. ... Read more

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This Halcyon Classics ebook THE ANALYSIS OF MIND was written by British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell.Russell (1872-1970) led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Frege and his protégé Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, criticized Soviet totalitarianism, and the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

This ebook is DRM free.
... Read more

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Logical Atomism is a philosophy that sought to account for the world in all its various aspects by relating it to the structure of the language in which we articulate information. In The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, Bertrand Russell, with input from his young student Ludwig Wittgenstein, developed the concept and argues for a reformed language based on pure logic. Despite Russell’s own future doubts surrounding the concept, this founding and definitive work in analytical philosophy by one of the world’s most significant philosophers is a remarkable attempt to establish a novel way of thinking.

Customer Reviews (3)

Russell's Antidote to the Monist Metaphysicians
Bertrand Russell, one of the fathers of modern analytical philosophy, started out as a student of the Hegelian, F. H. Bradley, but soon found himself in opposition to the kind of "monist" thinking Bradley exemplified. Russell made his major contributions to philosophy early on in the field of symbolic logic, which he all but revolutionized, and in the philosophy of mathematics, when he applied a logicist approach to establishing the fundamentals of mathematics in a joint effort with Alfred North Whitehead.

But Russell is not well remembered or studied today for this work though he lived a very long life thereafter and was much in the public eye as a peace activist, outspoken atheist (and some time agnostic) and all around spokesman for progressive ideas. What Russell is especially well known for in philosophical circles, however, is his role as teacher and mentor to the even more controversial and philosophically influential Viennese transplant, Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Cambridge philosopher who supplanted him and whose work helped undermine the logical foundations Russell had built for mathematics.

Wittgenstein first sought Russell out when, as an engineering student in England, he became fascinated by Russell's work. After their initial meeting Wittgenstein became his student and, at least at the outset, Russell's designated successor. It was during his time with Russell that Wittgenstein developed ideas, under Russell's tutelage, which were to influence Russell himself and, as Russell notes repeatedly in this book, became the source for Russell's own new philosophy of logical atomism.

Premised on Russell's opposition to Hegelian monism (the idea that everything is only fully comprehensible when seen as part of a greater whole), logical atomism was Russell's attempt to develop a metaphysics which accounted for the common sense reality of our experience and was consistent with the empirical tradition in British philosophy which stretched back at least as far as David Hume. Russell credits Wittgenstein in this book with having generated the ideas that led him to formulate logical atomism, a philosophy that sought to account for the world in all its various aspects by relating it to the structure of the language in which we articulate information about it.

Russell's fundamental aim, as he says in the lectures in this book, was to develop an "ideal" language, based on pure logic, which did away with all the ambiguities of everyday language and enabled us to describe things with superior accuracy and effectiveness for scientific purposes. In so doing he posited, with Wittgenstein, that our language, when properly clarified, broke down into a series of components which mirrored the world. Thus we could come to know our world rightly only by developing, learning and using this clarified form of communication, this ideal language.

Russell drew on the developments he had pioneered in symbolic logic to offer a breakdown of reality in terms of his reformed language. Fundamental in his assumptions was the claim that proper names as we normally used them were explainable via a theory of descriptions (each name seen as a shorthand for a series of descriptive propositions) whereas true names could not be broken down at all.

True names, for Russell, would be nothing like names as we normally use the term. Indeed, he posited that names in this sense would be things like "this" and "that" as used only at the moment when a this or a that was within our actual observation. Really basic components of reality, he argued, were fleeting sensory experiences like patches of colors in our visual field and everything we knew in reality was built up of these more basic, albeit fleeting, elements.

Language, argued Russell, must be seen, in its purest form, to mirror this breakdown bit for bit or, better, atom of experience for atom of expression. In so doing, language could be broken down to its components in the same way as reality could be broken down. But, while reality could only be broken down in this way theoretically (i.e., we could never see the real components of our experience in isolation in any integrated and useful way), language, he argued, could in fact be deconstructed to reveal its atomic parts and that was the real job of philosophy.

Along the same vein, propositions in language, he suggested, stated facts, understood as states of affairs which consisted of combinations of experienced phenomena which somehow existed in the world in a manner that paralleled how they were combined in our language. He suggested there were atomic and molecular propositions (the latter being so-called simple propositions combined by logical conjunctions). In this, he was no doubt deeply influenced by the new physics then taking hold and dominating scientific thinking, a physics which saw the material world as consisting of atoms and molecules. Overall, in this book, which is the definitive compilation of Russell's logical atomism, he is at great pains to develop this new linguistic metaphysic which he thought would enable us to speak more accurately about the world, a world he held, that was pluralist and thus "atomic," not "monist" in its fundamental form.

The most obvious thing one comes away with from these readings is just how artificial and convoluted Russell's efforts to construct a suitably empiricist metaphysic in this way appear to be. The lectures consistently devolve into logical minutiae, false trails and digressions. Russell repeatedly backs away from his own claims, saying more work needs to be done here or that he is just not able to clearly state what he wants to say there. Russell's argument for logical atomism, as noted by D. F. Pears in his introduction, is premised on several confused notions and diverges from Wittgenstein's parallel rationalist approach as exemplified in his own Tractatus-Logico Philosophicus (written during this same period).

Unlike Wittgenstein, Russell takes an empiricist approach, hoping to build up his metaphysical picture from the ground of actual observations as he presents his listeners with the atomic facts of a piece of chalk immediately before their eyes and speaks of "simples" which may somehow be found in the world. Wittgenstein, on the other hand, employed a reasoning process according to Pears in order to claim that so-called logical atoms must be there, even if no one had as yet actually found them. In the end, Wittgenstein gave up the hope of finding genuine atomic facts and propositions in favor of a revised view which, contrary to Russell's approach, found clarity in attention to ordinary language and not in some idealized form built on an artificial logical framework. Russell, though he subsequently revised his views, and gradually ceased pushing logical atomism to any great extent, never went along with his former pupil's new insights which saw language as its own phenomenon and not merely a reflector of something else.

But even before Wittgenstein's new thinking took hold, the logical positivism of the thinkers of the Vienna Circle, already under Wittgenstein's influence, supplanted Russell's unsuccessful empiricist metaphysic with a new approach that denied metaphysics entirely in favor of testing for logical sense via a demand that propositions either be empirically or analytically verifiable. If they failed such a test, the logical postivists, more radical than Russell, excluded them from the realm of sense entirely. Wittgenstein thought they missed his point, too, as he moved in fits and starts into his later period and his notion that philosophy was really about the language in which our ideas were couched, not about the world or its underlying ontology at all.

Russell's lectures in this book are fascinating for those with an interest in early analytical philosophy but they are mired in endless peregrinations as Russell struggles through what seems a dense forest of complexity to build a convincing picture of a logical atomist reality that cannot be easily articulated or, perhaps, satisfactorily articulated at all. This book is useful for understanding the later analytical work of Wittgenstein and those who were influenced by him, but it offers little beyond an historical record of an admirable, albeit failed, attempt to establish a new way of thinking.

SWM

Solid work by one of the top minds of the Century
An excellent short introduction to the philosophy of logical atomism. Thelectures should be read along with Wittgenstein's TractatusLogico-Philosophicus. Russell's logical atomism differs significantly fromWittgenstein's version of the theory but both share certain key featureswhich make the theory distinctive. Those who enjoy "mathematicalPhilosophy" will not be disappointed.

A Good Launching Pad for Russell's More Academic Philosophy
This brief work serves as a fine introduction to the academic Russell for those curious about what distinguishes him among philosophers of the twentieth century and/or for those chiefly familiar with his "popular" works, such as "Why I Am Not a Christian" and "Marriage and Morals."

While Philosophy of Logical Atomism certainly does not cover his academic philosophy in depth, and it contains a number of points that he later amended (this is true of much of his academic philosophy), it is a good starting point for the Russell initiate as he can be a very difficult read in other academic texts.

The Theory of Descriptions and the Theory of Types are both presented here.The Theory of Descriptions in its "indefinite" and "definite" form (as opposed to its presence as only the Definite Theory of Descriptions in Principia Mathematica).

Anyone with a serious interest in analytical philosophy should be familiar with this material, and at the very least, the Philosophy of Logical Atomism will defintely tell you who wrote Waverly. ... Read more

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During his long life (1872-1970) Bertrand Russell was one of a handful of social thinkers, let alone internationally recognised philosophers, whose views on contemporary issues won for him a devoted and supportive audience on the one hand and a host of vituperative critics on the other. Russell's revolutionary writings frequently placed him in the centre of controversy with conservatives and all those who were unwilling to consider moral questions from a rational rather than an emotional stance. Al Seckel has compiled an exhaustive collection of Russell's very best and most thought-provoking essays on ethics, social morality, happiness, sex, adultery, marriage, and divorce. Often hidden in obscure journals, pamphlets, out-of-print periodicals, and hard-to-find books, the works assembled here comprise a comprehensive volume that is augmented by valuable section introductions and editor's comments. This volume also includes "Morality and Instinct" which is published here for the first time. ... Read more

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Along with Why I Am Not a Christian, this essay must rank as the most articulate example of Russell's famed atheism. It is also one of the most notorious. Used as evidence in a 1940 court case in which Russell was declared unfit to teach college-level philosophy, What I Believe was to become one of his most defining works. The ideas contained within were and are controversial, contentious and - to the religious - downright blasphemous. A remarkable work, it remains the best concise introduction to Russell's thought. ... Read more

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Originally entitled Why Men Fight, this work is generally seen as the fullest expression of Russell's political philosophy. The ideas laid out here greatly contributed to Russell's fame as a social critic and anti-war activist. ... Read more

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In the second half of his life, Bertrand Russell transformed himself from a major philosopher, whose work was intelligible to a small elite, into a political activist and popular writer, known to millions throughout the world. Yet his life is the tragic story of a man who believed in a modern, rational approach to life and who, though his ideas guided popular opinion throughout the twentieth century, lost everything.

Russell's views on marriage, religion, education, and politics attracted legions of devoted followers and, at the same time, provoked harsh attacks from every direction. On the one hand, he was stripped of his post at New York's City College because he was thought to be a bad influence on his students, and on the other, he was awarded the Order of Merit, the Nobel Prize in literature, and a lifetime Fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge. He lived to be ninety-seven, and as he became older he became increasingly controversial. Monk quotes Russell's telegrams to Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis, an influence that Russell and his followers believed tipped the balance toward peace. Russell devoted his last years to a campaign organized by his secretary to lend support to Che Guevara's call for a globally coordinated revolutionary struggle against "U.S. imperialism." Until now, this last campaign has been misunderstood as a -- perhaps misguided, but nevertheless innocent -- plea for world peace. Monk reveals it was no such thing.

Drawing on thousands of documents collected at the Russell archives in Canada, Monk steers through the turbulence of Russell's public activities, scrutinizing his sometimes paradoxical and often outrageous pronouncements. Monk's focus, however, is on the tragedy of Russell's personal life, and in revealing this inner drama Monk has relied heavily on the cooperation of Russell's surviving relatives and access to previously unexamined legal and private correspondence. A central player in Russell's life was his first son, John. Russell applied the methods of the new science of child psychology in his parenting, believing that a new generation of children could be reared to be "independent, fearless, and free." But instead of being a model of this new generation, John became anxious, withdrawn, and eventually schizophrenic. Nor was John's daughter Lucy (who was Russell's favorite grandchild) to be a model of the new generation; gradually she grew so emotionally disturbed that, at the age of twenty-six, she took her own life.

The Ghost of Madness completes the most searching examination yet published of Bertrand Russell's unique life and work. Together with Ray Monk's highly praised first volume of the biography, The Spirit of Solitude, this is the classic account of an extraordinary man who championed the great ideas of the twentieth century and was all but destroyed by them. It is a portrait of the mind of a century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Examples of Monk's anti-Russell Bias
As other reviews point out, Monk, who worships Wittgenstein and was generally sympathetic in treating the first half of Russell's life, turns totally negative in the second volume. He criticizes Russell's popular hack-work writing, his radical politics, and his chaotic sexual and family life. Even if one were to share Monk's politics and prudery, one would have to admit that Monk overgeneralizes his attack on Russell.

Monk's criticisms of Russell go beyond the personal and political vendetta even to Russell's technical work. An example of this is Monk's treatment of Russell's book "The Analysis of Matter." (Monk, pp.71-3.) Monk dismisses Russell's structural account of physics, and backs his rejection by citing Russell's own premature acceptance of the thrust of the critical review by the topologist Newman. Russell, despite his apparent vanity and enormous ego tended to overly quickly accept criticism of others, for instance Wittgenstein's criticism of the early manuscript of Russell's theory of knowledge, which the latter did not himself publish. Ironically structuralism or structural realism is a major contender in the philosophy of contemporary theoretical physics. Many cutting edge philosophers of modern physics, for instance Steven French and James Ladyman, treat this approach as a live and serious option. Others, such as Thomas Ryckman treat it as an opposing view worthy of counter-argument. Monk, driven by his anti-Russell animus gone wild, casually dismisses this approach as worthless, ignorant of more recent developments in the philosophy of physics.

Another example is in Monk's treatment of Russell's more serious historical and political writings. Monk dismisses Russell's work "Power" (pp. 212-14) as simply an emotive and banal piece of sermonizing, devoid of any theoretical analysis. It is odd then that Steven Lukes, for instance, includes Russell, along with theorists such as Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, Georg Simmell, Habermas, John Kenneth Garlbraith, and Foucault, in his anthology on "Power."

Similarly Monk dismisses Russell's "Freedom and Organization 1814-1914" as "amateurish" and "not a serious contribution to the historical literature" because it does not contain historical research based on original documents. He ignores that it might be a useful and insightful summary of the main trends of the period.

These are just three examples of the way that Monk in his vendetta against Russell and in some ways understandable dislike of Russell's personality has to discredit even Russell's more serious contributions of his later period.

Thanks Ray!

Having read "Wittgenstein", then vol 1 of this biography, this was a natural and exciting follower. I certainly have to wonder what connection there is to a life associated, at least ab initio, with mathematics and failure in one's personal life. Considering the connection between logic, mathematics, and reasoning, and our need for success with those to be successful in one's life in general, this certainly brings up an issue of a golden mean between extremes. It perhaps also brings up an issue of autism and the genetic predisposition to autism as a range of autism might on one hand lead to outstanding mathematical accomplishment accompanied by outstanding social failure.

It is such a shame that such a great mind would give up such important work for lack of - self discipline? Self control? A family madness? Most telling I thought was the quote given in response to the question "Why did you give up philosophy?" Since his response is shocking but stabs to the heart of the personal difficulties experienced by BR and successfully passed on to almost all of his children and grandchildren one has to wonder was this nurture or nature. A clue seems to be the success of those who had the earliest and longest break in contact. The less contact the more success?

Perhaps an errata sheet should be made available regarding the apparent deleted words. One sentence especially seemed to need "not" to make sense in context, but in general I found my reading to be abruptly halted with the awareness of a word missing - in a context where I could know precisely what word would have been right. I half wonder if RM was using a new word processor or something? I did not notice this at all with vol. 1.

Regardless, of all the things worth reading this will always be high on my recommend list. Great philosophers are easier to understand when we know as much as we can about them as persons. Thanks Ray! Eternally grateful.

Autobiography vs. biography
Because of Russell's political views (his opposition to war and U.S. imperialism) he has always been the subject of attacks by other intellectuals (the late Sidney Hook is a prime example).One only has to compare Monk's work on Russell to his biography of Wittgenstein ("The Duty of Genius" says it all).The interesting thing about each of Monk's biographies is that while both men led solitary lives and maintained erratic beliefs and behavior, Russell is castigated as a "madman" while Wittgenstein is a "genius."It is far too easy as a biographer to portray intellectual celebrities as either geniuses or madman.If you want to hear from the person, Bertie Russell, read his biography instead.

A tormented volcanic island who spilled a lot of lavae
This exceptional book is a sequel to The Spirit of Solitude, written by Ray Amok, which covers the first 50 years of Russell's life, and which could be summarized by achieving world fame and academic glory by means of his early work as a philosophical mathematician, specially trough his "Principia Matematica",a monumental theoretical work, with the co-authorship of Whitehead.

Ray Monk magistrally portrays Russell as facing now the challenge of taking a new direction to his life, trying to achieve the same level of academical glory when entering into new fields of knowledge. The story is of a genius who had to prove to himself that he had not lost his intelectual vigour in the ageing proccess and at the same time , balancing his mundane needs trough popular texts written to readers not specialized in philosophy and mathematics, and many other areas where he was proficient.

He marriages now for the second time in his life, with Dora, with he would generate a son (John) and a daughter (Kate), began for him a new era as an educator and as a mass-comunicator, where he approached all the available means (newspapers, magazines, radio panels and lectures) in order to make money thus providing the material means for his special ideas on how to educate hischildren. He wrote many books on the subject and even inaugurated a special school where his two children where educated along with the children of some upper-class Englishmen and Americans.

He was two be married again twice and to have more children with Peter (yes, a very special nickname of his third wive). In terms of the outcome he got, it was nothing anyone could foresee at the beginning.

To sum it up, the book is a faithful portrait of a tormentedman, surrounded by all kinds of people who loved/hated him, and who seems to destroy everyinch of happiness one could have beforegetting to know him. Strange as it seems, the man who was trying to save the world with his pacifist stand against nazism, and later comunism, and all forms of totalitarianism, was incapable of understand the human nature of all people who lived with him.

This is a good book to read to everyone interested in philosophy and in the life of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century.

Remarkable biography.
The chilling story of Bertrand Russell's disastrous later life: his ferocious battles with his children, wives and mistresses, his financial needs covered by second-rate newspaper articles and American lectures for older women, his sometimes quite naive political struggles on the side of socialism (all land and capital must be the property of the State) and the peace movement. At the end of his life, he allowed himself to be totally neutralized by an American CIA agent (I quote Bryan Magee). For the author, the reason for these disasters were two fundamental traits of Russell's character: a deep seated fear of madness (a constant in his family) and a quite colossal vanity.
The big shock of his life was the destructive First World War. He became a profound misanthrope, who lost all confidence in humanity. It put nearly an end to all serious philisophical and mathematical work.
Thoroughly documented and extremely well narrated work. The author is very good acquainted with philosophy and mathematics. I miss one name in this provoking work: Karl Popper. ... Read more

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"Austrian philosopher LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889¿1951) was hugely influential on 20th-century philosophy, and here, he constructs a series of carefully and precisely numbered propositions on the relationship between language, logic, and reality, using a numbering system to show nested relationships between the propositions. Considered one of the major recent works of philosophy¿a reputation enhanced, undoubtedly, by Bertrand Russell¿s glowing introduction¿this edition is a reproduction of the translation by C.K. Ogden, first published in 1922, for which Wittgenstein himself assisted in the preparation of the English-language manuscript. Students of philosophy and those fascinated by the history of ideas will want a copy of this essential volume." ... Read more

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In this collection of essays, with a new introduction by Howard Woodhouse, Russell scrutinizes many aspects of modern life--the latent anarchy of domestic life, the anti-social character of high finance and the folly of working too hard in the machine age. Among the political essays there are powerful demolitions of both Communism and Fascism, and a convincing statement of the case for Socialism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Naive Book by a Great Writer
I like reading the works of Bertrand Russell. He is a crisp and thoughtful writer, and a penetrating and skilled philosopher. But we can't be great at everything and unfortunately, "In Praise of Idleness" highlights Dr. Russell's naivete when it comes to social and political commentary.

And more unfortunate still, the most naive essay of all is the title essay. In it, Dr. Russell outlines a vision whereby all able-bodied individuals would need only to work for four hours a day. Russell abhors work, and true to his upper-cust raisings, cannot see why it is really all that necessary. What he does not realize is that the beauty of the capitalism he so detests is that it allows the individual - rather than a majority vote or a dictator - choose how much work they will do based on how much "reward" they want. Should they want high reward, they can choose to work more and harder. Should they want less financial reward, they can choose a less stressful job. (Russell also misses the fact that, while many of us do detest work, they would detest it more if they did not own the fruits of their labor via wages in a capitalistic system. After all, many people work only because there is a financial motivator.)

His essay extolling the usefulness of useless knowledge is actually quite good. Rather than arguing - as its title might suggest - against a pragmatic view of knowledge (that only "useful" knowledge is worth anything), Russell argues to expand the definition of "useful." Knowledge that contributes to an individuals mental well-being, knowledge that is interesting, and knowledge that is just plain fun to think about, is every bit as useful to individuals as knowlege that helps us dig ditches, structure economies, etc. (To be useful, knowledge need not always be SOCIALLY useful.)

Much of the rest of Russell's naivete comes from offering good criticisms of fascism and communism only to forget that these criticisms may be applied to the socialism that Russell champions. The fact that centralizing power, for instance, in a dictator is a reason to jettison fascism and Marxism is every bit a reason to be wary of any attempts at political centralization - even socialist ones! To put it bluntly, Russell is so interested in his utopian vision of socialism in the abstract that he forgets to think about what socialism actually looks like in practice. (In Russell's mind, for instance, socialism somehow avoids consolidating power in an omnipotent central government. But doesn't planning need planners and delegators? And how do they differ from dictators?)

To be honest, I think Bertrand Russell shows evidence in this book of a huge blindspot. As an upper-cruster, he is appalled that people have to do such dastardly things as work and contract their labor. As an upper-cruster, he thinks that a decent way of life is possible without the type of industry that requires people to work more than four hours per day. And as an upper-cruster, he believes that everyone should be guaranteed a certain level of income regardless of what they accomplish.

In other words, Russell is simply not as penetrating as a social theorist as he is as a philosopher. This book is as clearly written and entertaining as other books by Russell, but he is clearly out of his element.

In Praise of this Book
+++++

Controversial philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) has written fifteen scintillating essays on which to whet our intellectual appetites.These short essays were written between 1925 and 1935.

Russell writes in an elegant, readable, and understandable style.His arguments are well thought out.

These essays consider social questions not discussed in politics.The general theme that ties these essays together is that the world suffers from dogmatism and narrowness; what is needed is the willingness to question dogma.

These essays are a blend of philosophy with other disciplines such as psychology, economics, science, and history.All the essays are brutally honest and forthright.Each is packed with loads of wisdom.What's amazing is that these essays are as current today as when they were first written and their messages will probably remain relevant in the future.

My five favorite essays in this collection include the following:

(1) "In Praise of Idleness."Discusses work and the importance of leisure.In order to get an idea of Russell's insight that permeates this book, here's a sample sentence from this essay: "The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery."

(2) "'Useless' Knowledge."Points out that all knowledge is useful not only that which has a practical value.

(3) "The Case for Socialism."Russell gives many arguments in favor of socialism, most notably the need for preventing war.

(4) "Western Civilization."Discusses its characteristics.Sample sentence: "I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent utility."

(5) "Education and Discipline." Sample sentence: "Education...must be something more positive than mere opportunity for growth...it must...also provide a mental and moral equipment [for] children."

In conclusion, this book is Bertrand Russell at his best. Enjoy!

+++++

Brilliant Writing, Brilliant Thoughts
Russell became famous as a mathematician and philosopher.

But when he won the Nobel Prize, it was for Literature.When you read this book of essays, you will see why.

It is beautifully written and has all of Russell's virtues: clarity, wit, humor, forcefulness, simplicity.

Even better, it is a brief education in itself.Most of the essays were written just as the Great Depression was beginning, and Russell gets right to the heart of a problem Capitalists and Socialists do not usually address: How much work is needed, and what is the ultimate point?He constantly stresses that we do too much work, and most of it is unneeded, and makes life grim.He never ceases to remind us that we should work to live, not live to work.

He addresses this point in many ways--through economics, through architecture, through the then-raging problems of Fascism and Communism.And though he treats serious problems seriously, he always has time for the breathtaking perspective and the ligtht touch--as with the essay, "Man Versus Insects."

A wonderful, even life-changing book.

Reading is not surrogate to thinking
This is one book where you must read the introduction. and then when you read the book you find out thatthe book can be interpreted in at least one other way. i think everybody would take out something different but thatwould always be refreshing.i could not stop myself from saying 'aha' atmany places.still, i think he sometimes is contradicting himself.hethinks that socialism and liberalism can go together.maybe he is right. i dont think so.

Must-read material for the man of the next century. . .
Written by a very advanced thinker, this book represents a shattering statement against the Christian petit-burgois morality of work, a true revolution and evolution in man's thinking. ... Read more

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Bertrand Russell was an influential British philosopher and mathematician. The Conquest of Happiness, first published in 1930, was Russell's guide on how to live a happy life. Although it was 'of its time' it was also, certainly, ahead of its time. Russell's views were that true happiness could only be achieved through both personal thought and effort. These ideas made this book a true self-help classic before self-help even existed. Tim Phillips' interpretation of The Conquest of Happiness illustrates the timeless nature of Russell's insights by bringing them to life through 52 modern case studies. This brilliant interpretation of The Conquest of Happiness is an entertaining accompaniment to one of the most enlightening popular philosophy books ever written. ... Read more

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The Analysis of Mind
Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays
Political Ideals
The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
The Problem of China
The Problems of Philosophy
Proposed Roads To Freedom
... Read more

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a selection from: I. Introductory Mr. Haldane's Daedalus has set forth an attractive picture of the future as it may become through the use of scientific discoveries to promote human happiness. Much as I should like to agree with his forecast, a long experience of statesmen and government has made me somewhat sceptical. I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups, rather than to make men happy. Icarus, having been taught to fly by his father Daedalus, was destroyed by his rashness. I fear that the same fate may overtake the populations whom modern men of science have taught to fly. Some of the dangers inherent in the progress of science while we retain our present political and economic institutions are set forth in the following pages.This subject is so vast that it is impossible, within a limited space, to do more than outline some of its aspects. The world in which we live differs profoundly from that of Queen Anne's time, and this difference is mainly attributable to science. That is to say, the difference would be very much less than it is but for various scientific discoveries, but resulted from those discoveries by the operation of ordinary human nature. The changes that have been brought about have been partly good, partly bad; whether, in the end, science will prove to have been a blessing or a curse to mankind, is to my mind, still a doubtful question.

A science may affect human life in two different ways. On the one hand, without altering men's passions or their general outlook, it may increase their power of gratifying their desires. On the other hand, it may operate through an effect upon the imaginative conception of the world, the theology or philosophy which is accepted in practice by energetic men. The latter is a fascinating study, but I shall almost wholly ignore it, in order to bring my subject within a manageable compass. I shall confine myself almost wholly to the effect of science in enabling us to gratify our passions more freely, which has hitherto been far the more important of the two.

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Strictly reserved for the serious
To my knowledge, one of the best books ever written. Russell's English has a wonderful, graceful clarity. But this is not an easy book to read. What does it mean to "know"? what do we know? how far can we be sure that we do in fact know? These are fundamental questions about human thought, and this book is an essential item in the library of anyone who is concerned with such questions. ... Read more

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Bertrand Russell and A.N. Whitehead co-authored a seminal work in logic entitled Principia Mathematica. Russell wrote on virtually every aspect of philosophy, with particular contributions in ethics (where he championed important innovations). Whitehead developed one of the great philosophical systems of the century, attempting to harmonize science and values and to reconcile religion and philosophy.

The World of Philosophy series is a dramatic presentation, in understandable language, of the concerns, questions, interests, and overall outlook of the world’s great philosophers and philosophical traditions. Special emphasis on clear and relevant explanations gives you a new arsenal of insights toward living a better life. ... Read more

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Where's the Whitehead?
Most people interested in an overview of Whitehead's philosophy would certainly expect a journey into the methods and meanings of Process Theology, Whitehead's principal contribution to philosophy that is still of interest. But this audio recording, to my amazement, avoids a discussion about Process Theology completely, mentioning only the book title "Process and Reality" twice, but otherwise avoiding any exploratoin of the subject. Instead, Russell dominates both the biographical background and the philosophical expositions. It takes three CDs to make thepoint: Russell was a skeptic would believed only in truth (although he never discovers it) and love (ditto). That's all you need to know about Russell. Whitehead, meanwhile, who developed and expounded upon one of themost vital, relevant methods of theological inquiry is given comparitively little time. Knowledge Products usually offers capable, nicely developed introductions to areas of learning. Thistime, the product is bafflingly inept in its topic treatment. ... Read more

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First published in 1961, Fact and Fiction is a collection of Bertrand Russell’s essays that reflect on the books and writings that influenced his life, including fiction, essays on politics and education, divertissements and parables. Also broaching on the highly controversial issues of war and peace, it is in this classic collection that Russell states some of his most famous pronouncements on nuclear warfare and international relations. It is a remarkable book that provides valuable insight into the range of interests and depth of convictions of one of the world’s greatest philosophers.

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A superb collection of essays
Bertrand Russell often gathered essays he thought would have lasting value, and published them as collections. This book not only has essays, but the text of talks he gave on the BBC. The topics are wide anddisparate. He begins with books (and their authors) that made a deepimpression on him while he was in his formative years. Then follow essayson politics, starting off with "What is Freedom?" and "Whatis Democracy?" -- two basic questions that many people don't eventhink about. The "Divertissement" section contains pieces offiction. Russell stated that he found fiction a useful medium to expressideas he half-believed in, but had no firm grounds for belief. The lastsection is on "Peace and War," and includes the famous Vienna andManchester addresses on nuclear bombs. His style is incisive and pithy asusual. If you like Russell, you should not miss reading this book. ... Read more