Historical Figure
Bertrand Russell
1872–1970
Mathematician and philosopher
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"Discusses Philosophy" — 1959
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Biography
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, was an English philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He influenced mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic philosophy.
Timeline
The story of Bertrand Russell, told in moments.
Born at Ravenscroft in Trellech, Wales. His grandfather was twice Prime Minister. Both parents die by the time he's four. Raised by his grandmother, who gives him a Bible inscribed with "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." He keeps it his entire life.
Publishes the first volume of Principia Mathematica with Alfred North Whitehead. 362 pages to prove that 1+1=2. The project takes a decade and nearly drives both men mad. It becomes the foundation of modern mathematical logic.
Sent to Brixton Prison for six months for writing a pamphlet opposing Britain's entry into World War I. He's a pacifist. Cambridge has already fired him. In prison he writes Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy and reads 4,000 pages of history.
Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. Not science, not philosophy. Literature. The citation praises writings "in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought." He's 78. He has another twenty years of trouble-making left.
Arrested at 89 for protesting nuclear weapons in London. He sits on the pavement outside the Ministry of Defence. The judge sentences him to seven days. He serves the time. Four marriages by this point. Still not done.
Dies of influenza in Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales. He is 97. Philosopher, mathematician, prisoner, Nobel laureate, protester. His final public statement, three days before death, condemns Israeli aggression in the Middle East.
In Their Own Words (20)
I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe – because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return.
Letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell, March, 1912, as quoted in Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (2012), p. 1318, 2012
Life seems to me essentially passion, conflict, rage... It is only intellect that keeps me sane; perhaps this makes me overvalue intellect against feeling.
Letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell in 1912, as quoted in Clark The life of Bertrand Russell (1976), p. 174, 1976
Reason is a harmonising, controlling force rather than a creative one.
Ch. 1: Mysticism and Logic, 1918
The facts of science, as they appeared to him [Heraclitus], fed the flame in his soul, and in its light, he saw into the depths of the world.
Ch. 1: Mysticism and Logic, 1918
The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilized men.
Ch. 1: Mysticism and Logic, 1918
Artifacts (15)
Bertrand Russell: History of Western Philosophy
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