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May 8, 2017 · By Maria Popova. “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Neither love without knowledge, nor knowledge without love can produce a good life,” the Nobel-winning English polymath Bertrand Russell (May 18, 1872–February 2, 1970) wrote in his memoir at the end of a long and intellectually invigorating life — a life ...
Summary: Chapter 1: Appearance and Reality. Russell begins by asking his reader to consider what knowledge exists that can be known beyond reasonable doubt. His purpose is to produce the realization that radical doubt soon brings even the most self-evident assumptions in our everyday lives under reconsideration.
Jan 1, 2006 · Ethics: the study of the good and what constitutes a good life. Æesthetics: the study of the beautiful. As far as the main value of philosophy, Russell says philosophy seeks knowledge like science, but is different from science. Recognizing that there is no absolute certainty, philosophy shows unsuspected possibilities about matters of fact.
- Uncertainty Is Important
- Thinking Beyond Ourselves Makes Us Better People
- Explore The Best Introductions to Philosophy
Regardless of whether we find answers to satisfy our curiosity, Russell argues, it is vital to keep alive our speculative interest in the universe which is apt to be killed if we limit ourselves to what can be known. Why? Because it is precisely in philosophy’s uncertainty that we find its value. As Russell puts it: As soon as we begin to philosoph...
Humbling our certainty leads to another important value, Russell continues. By contemplating deep, abstract, mysterious subjects, our concern with the world is expanded beyond our own private sphere of interests. Without such contemplation, we may neglect attention to anyone or anything that doesn’t directly impact us — or, worse, mark such things ...
If Russell’s rallying cry for the study of philosophy has piqued your interest, we’ve created a reading list of the top five introductory books on philosophy — including Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy. Hit the banner below now to further explore the wonderful subject of philosophy.
Physical science, through the medium of inventions, is useful to innumerable people who are wholly ignorant of it; thus the study of physical science is to be recommended, not only, or primarily, because of the effect on the student, but rather because of the effect on mankind in general. This utility does not belong to philosophy.
- Jeff McLaughlin
- 2017
Introduction: Bertrand Russell was a philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer. (a) Russell's parents died when he was a little child; John Stuart Mill was his godfather. (c) He supported himself through lecturing and writing from 1919 until the late 1930's. (d) He accepted a position of the City College of New York, but before he could ...
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This is Russell’s contrast between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Russell gives the following list of things that we can think about directly: Sense data. (We’ll return to what these are later.) Universals. “...we have also ...what may be called awareness of universals. . . .
