Philosopher
Last reviewed:
1872–1970 · Analytic philosophy · Modern
Bertrand Russell worked in logic, epistemology, and public argument, and the three activities do not sound the same. Principia Mathematica, with Whitehead, is not a source of quotations. The Problems of Philosophy is a short book about what the subject is for when it does not hand you a list of answers. The last chapter says the questions are the point, because they enlarge imagination and cut dogmatic assurance.
A 1933 essay says the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. A smoother proverb about fools and fanatics is a later paraphrase of that essay and should be marked as one. In Praise of Idleness attacks the belief that work is virtuous. 'The Study of Mathematics' praises a cold, austere beauty.
He is witty, and the wit is why people improve him. An improved Russell is usually a fake. The real sentences are already short. They do not need the extra sanding. He changed his mind in public more than once. A sentence from 1907 and a sentence from 1933 are not a system. They are two occasions.
The Problems of Philosophy, especially the last chapter, then In Praise of Idleness.
One is the philosopher explaining the activity. The other is the public writer, still careful, and often garbled into a proverb he did not need.
“Philosophy is to be studied not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves.”
Bertrand Russell · Analytic philosophy
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”
Bertrand Russell · Analytic philosophy
“I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous.”
Bertrand Russell · Analytic philosophy
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty.”
Bertrand Russell · Analytic philosophy
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”
Bertrand Russell · Analytic philosophy
Analysis
Break a problem until the remainder is either logic or a fact you can face.
Uselessness
Philosophy and mathematics are defended for the enlargement they are, not for the wage.
Public doubt
Cocksure stupidity, in 1933, is a political danger, not a personality quiz.
Idleness
The cult of work does harm. Leisure is the point of reducing work, not the enemy.
The Problems of Philosophy (1912)
A short introduction. Chapter 15 defends the questions.
Mysticism and Logic (1918)
Includes 'The Study of Mathematics' from 1907.
In Praise of Idleness (1932)
The essay against the virtue of work.
The Triumph of Stupidity (1933)
The cocksure sentence, collected in Mortals and Others.
None of the lines this library files for Bertrand Russell is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
The Problems of Philosophy, especially the last chapter, then In Praise of Idleness. One is the philosopher explaining the activity. The other is the public writer, still careful, and often garbled into a proverb he did not need.
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Bertrand Russell that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Philosophy is to be studied not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves.” (The Problems of Philosophy, chapter 15, Well attested).
None of the lines this library files for Bertrand Russell is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
Analysis: Break a problem until the remainder is either logic or a fact you can face.