The Life and Philosophies of Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born in Trelleck, Wales on May 18, 1872. He was a descendant of a prominent Whig family. His grandfather was Lord John Russell, who had twice served as Prime Minister under Queen Victoria. Bertrand was orphaned at the age of three and raised by his grandparents. He was educated in private schools and later at Trinity College, Cambridge. He earned degrees in mathematics and philosophy. Eventually, he taught at Cambridge.

Russell was a philosopher, logician, essayist, noble prize winner, and social critic.

He is known as one of the founders of analytic philosophy. He is accredited with being one of the most important logicians of the 20th century. His most influential contributions are his beliefs that mathematics is in some important sense reducible to logic and his theory of definite description and logical atomism.

He used first-order logic to show how a broad range of denoting phrases could be changed to predicates and quantified variables. He is also remembered for his emphasis on the importance of logical form for the resolution of many related philosophical problems.

Russell hoped that by applying logical machinery and insights people would be able to resolve difficulties.

Throughout his life h,e made many notable contributions to a wide range of subjects. His writings included topics of education, ethics, politics, history, religion, and popular science. He achieved fame with his first major work, The Principles of Mathematics (1902). He worked with the British philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead for eight years to compose a three-volume work called Principia Mathematica (1910-1913).

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It showed that mathematics can be stated in terms of general logic. His next famous work was The Problems of Philosophy (1912). After a visit to Russia, he expressed his political views against their form of socialism in his book Practice and Theory of Bolshevism. He authored many more books including; What I Believe (1925), Our Knowledge of the External World (1926), Manners and Morals (1929), Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1962), The ABC of Relativity (1925), Education and the Social Order (1932), A History of Western Philosophy (1945), The Impact of Science upon Society (1952), My Philosophical Development (1959), War Crimes in Vietnam (1967), and the Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (3 volumes, 19671969).

Russell was also famous for his many anti-war and anti-nuclear protests. In 1916 he was convicted and fined for his protests and anti-war activities. Consequently,y he was dismissed from his teaching position at Trinity College, Cambridge. Two years later he was convicted a second time. This time he spent six months in prison. While in prison he wrote Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919). He continued his protests and was an active opponent of nuclear weapons. He released the RussellEinstein Manifesto in 1955, calling for the reduction of nuclear weapons. In 1957, he was a prime organizer of the first Pugwash Conference, an organization made up of scientists concerned about the spread of nuclear war. He became the founding president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958 and was once again imprisoned, this time because of anti-nuclear protests in 1961. At the age of 89, he was imprisoned after another anti-nuclear demonstration.

Russell taught at many universities and schools throughout the world. In late 1930, she was offered a job as a teacher at City College, New York. The job offer was revoked after many public protests and a judicial decision in 1940. The state supreme court ruled that he was morally unfit to teach at the college because he attacked religion and his advocacy of sexual freedom.

When his brother died in 1931 he became the 3rd Earl of the Russell family. In 1949 he was awarded the Order of Merit by King George VI. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950 and was named “the champion of humanity and freedom of thought.” Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97 in 1970.