Russell - A Very Short Indroduction (20 page)

There are a number of collections of essays on aspects of Russell’s work. E. D. Klemke (ed.),
Essays on Bertrand Russell
(University of Illinois Press, 1971), D. F. Pears (ed.),
Bertrand Russell
(Anchor Books, 1972), G. W. Roberts (ed.),
Bertrand Russell Memorial Volume
(Allen & Unwin, 1979), P. A. Schilpp (ed.),
The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell
, 3rd edn. (Tudor Publishing, 1951), are to be found in most academic libraries and between them cover much ground.

Alan Ryan’s
Bertrand Russell: A Political Life
(Penguin Books, 1988) is excellent on the ‘applied’ side of Russell’s activities.
Other works cited in the main text are: Michael Dummett,
Frege: Philosophy of Language
, 2nd edn. (Duckworth, 1981); A. J. Ayer,
Central Questions of Philosophy
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973); William James,
Essays in Radical Empiricism
(Longmans, 1912); P. F. Strawson, ‘On Referring’,
Mind
(1950), reprinted in Strawson,
Logico-Linguistic Papers
(Methuen, 1971), and
Individuals
(Methuen, 1959); and F. H. Bradley,
Appearance and Reality
(Oxford University Press, 1897).

Index

Ayer, A. J. 23, 56, 128, 130

A

a priori
knowledge 52–3, 55, 79–80, 82
A.B.C. of Atoms, The
(Russell) 20
A.B.C. of Relativity, The
(Russell) 20
acquaintance (immediate
knowledge) 52, 65, 68, 127–8
agnoticism 12, 100
algebra 37
Allen, Clifford (
later
Lord Allen of Hurtwood) 16
Amberley, Viscount (father) 2–4
Amberley Papers, The
(Russell) 23
An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth
(Russell) 32
Analysis of Matter, The
(Russell) 20, 32, 65, 76, 78
Analysis of Mind, The
(Russell) 17, 32, 59, 65, 70, 74–5
analytic philosophy 1–2, 124, 129, 131–4
anti-realism 71
appearance-reality distinction 56
Aristotelian Society 122
Aristotle 86, 134
atomic propositions 62–3
atomism,
see
logical atomism
Authority and the Individual
(Russell) 27
axioms 6, 29
of reducibility 40–3, 136

B

Barnes, Dr 25
BBC (British Broadcasting

Corporation) 26
Beacon Hill School, Cornwall 21–2, 105, 106–8
behaviourism 73
Berkeley, Bishop George 2, 6, 34 Bible 103
Black, Dora 18–19, 21, 22, 99, 105 Boer War 114
Bolshevism 15, 18
Boole, George 37
Bradley, F. H. 7, 34, 35
British Academy 26
Broad, Charles 30
Bryn Mawr College 14, 25
bullying 108

C

Cambridge University Press 11 Carnap, Rudolf 24, 121, 128 causality 72, 76
childhood 105–6
children 20–2, 23
China 18–19
Christianity 102–3
civil disobedience 118
classes, notion of 39–40, 41 CND (Campaign for Nuclear

Disarmament) 28, 118 Cold War 15, 26
common-sense 80–4

Commonsense and Nuclear Warfare
(Russell) 28
Communism 117
Conquest of Happiness, The
(Russell) 20, 205
consciousness 70–5
Cuban missile crisis (1961) 117

D

definiendum
133
definitive descriptions 43–50 democracy 110–11
derivative (by descriptions)

knowledge 52, 53, 65 Descartes, René 2, 29, 56, 57, 84 Descriptions, Theory of 43–50,

122, 125, 126
desires, good and bad 91–2 Dewey, John 19
Donnellan, Keith 49
Dummett, Michael 131–2

E

economics 111–12
education 104–8
Education and the Social Order

(Russell) 108
Einstein, Albert 25
Eliot, T. S. 13–14
empiricism 50, 63–4, 66–9 epistemology 83–4,
see also

knowledge
ethics 85–6, 97–8, 124, 133–4 evaluation, ethical 93–4 events 77–9
existence 47–8
experience and realism 34–5

F

facts 64–5
female suffrage 12
Finch, Edith 27
First World War 14–16, 114,

115–16, 119
free trade 111
Freedom and Organization

1814–1914
(Russell) 23 freedom of speech 110–11 Frege, Gottlob 2, 37, 39, 40,

129–30, 131, 132
fundamentalism 15

G

general propositions 63
geometry 6, 7, 9, 29
George VI, King 26
German idealism 34
German Social Democracy

(Russell) 86

Germans/Germany 15, 16, 23, 26, 115–16
God 34, 100–1
Gödel, Kurt 25, 43
Goodstein, R. L. 135
Green, T. H. 34
Guild Socialism 86, 111–12

H

hallucinations 71 hard data 57
Hardy, G. H. 17
Harvard University 13, 25, 31
Has Man a Future?
(Russell) 28 Hearst Press 23, 95
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

7, 30
Hegelianism 9
History of Western Philosophy, A

(Russell) 25, 134
Hitler, Adolf 23
Holocaust 15, 90, 94
homosexuality 94
House of Lords 117
Human Knowledge: Its Scope and

Limits
(Russell) 26, 32, 59, 76, 79–84, 135
Human Society in Ethics and

Politics
(Russell) 27, 86, 90, 94
Hume, David 2, 52, 71, 72, 80

I

idealism 7, 9, 30–1, 71, 72, 73, 125 rejection of 34–7
imagination 71
In Praise of Idleness
(Russell) 23
Inquiry into Meaning and Truth, An
(Russell) 23
intentionality (aboutness) 70, 74
International War Crimes
Tribunal 28, 118
‘intrinsic value’ 92–3
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, An
(Russell) 17, 32
intuitive knowledge 53, 57

J

James, William 69–70, 71–2, 73, 129
Jesus Christ 102
Joachim, Harold 35
judgement
acquaintance and 127–8 moral 90–2

K

Kant, Immanuel 7, 55, 80, 102
Kay, Mrs 24
Kneebone, G. T. 130
knowing 72, 82
knowledge 50–3, 74, 79–84, 127

L

Labour Party 86
language 43–50, 61–9, 131–2 Lawrence, D. H. 17–18
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 2, 9,

37
leisure 109–10
Locke, John 6, 50, 76
logic 124, 130–1

mathematics 9–11, 29, 31, 37–43, 124–5
theory of descriptions 43–50, 122, 125, 126
Logic and Knowledge
(Russell) 129
logical atomism 61–9

M

Macarthyism 117
McTaggart, J. M. E. 6, 89
Malcolm, Norman 135
Malleson, Lady Constance

(Colette O’Neil) 16
marriage 98–9
Marriage and Morals
(Russell) 20,

95, 96–9
Marsh, R. C. 129
Marxism 86
masturbation 108
materialism 74
mathematics

geometry 6, 7, 9, 29
logic 9–11, 29, 31, 37–43, 124–5 Russell’s legacy 130–1
Type Theory 40–3, 121, 124

Meinong, Alexius von 44, 70, 71 memory 74
mental entities 32
Mill, John Stuart 2–3, 6
mind 34, 59, 69–71, 73
monarchy 108–9
monism 34–6, 65
Monist, The
(journal) 18
Montessori method 105
Moore, G. E. 2, 7, 9, 30, 31, 34,

89, 129, 132–4
morality 90–2, 95–100, 102, 103 Morrell, Lady Ottoline 12–13
My Philosophical Development

(Russell) 27, 74

N

naive realism 36
names, theory of 68
nationalism 15, 112
naturalistic fallacy 133–4
Nazism 15, 23, 94
negative theory (on education)

108
neutral monism 65, 69–75 Newman, M. H. A. 78
No Conscription Fellowship 16 Nobel Prize 27, 95, 96, 99
non-demonstrative inference 32,

60
nuclear weapons 15, 27–8, 112–13,
117–18
number theory 39–42

O

objectivism/subjectivism 90–2 Ockham’s razor principle 37, 65 oligarchies 109
On Education
(Russell) 20, 105,

108
open marriages 99
opinions 53
Our Knowledge of the External

World
(Russell) 13, 31, 32,
57, 61–2, 121, 124–5, 126–7,
130
Outline of Philosophy, An
(Russell)
20, 90

P

pacifism 10, 14–18, 23, 27–8, 114–19 paradox 39–40, 42
parenthood 105
parliamentary government 110 Pascal’s wager 101
Pauli, Wolfgang 25
Peano, Giuseppe 2, 9–10, 31, 37,

129
perception 50–3, 70, 74, 75–9 personal liberty 110–11, 114
phenomenalism 31–2, 76
physics 32, 59, 65, 73, 75
Pinsent, David 128
Plato 97
pluralism 7, 34–5, 125
politics 12, 86–8, 108–14
Portraits From Memory
(Russell)

27
postulates 80–4
power 112
Power, A New Social Analysis

(Russell) 23
presupposition, notion of 48–9 Price, H. H. 56
Princeton University 25
Principia Mathematica
(Russell) 6,

11, 31, 38, 40, 130–1

Principles of Mathematics, The
(Russell) 10, 11, 31, 33, 37, 40, 44

Principles of Social Reconstruction
(Russell) 17, 113
Problems of Philosophy, The
(Russell) 12, 31, 50, 54, 57, 63, 75, 138
propositions 35–6, 43, 62–3, 70, 125, 128
Protestantism 103
psychology 73, 75
Pugwash Conference 28

Q

Quine, W. V. 121–2, 124, 128, 131

R

ramified theory of types,
see
Type Theory
Ramsey, F. P. 41, 42
real numbers,
see
number theory
realism 7, 32, 34–6, 44–5, 75–9
reducibility, axiom of 41–2, 136
Reith Lectures 26, 27
relations 35–6
religion 100–4
Roads to Freedom
(Russell) 17
Roman Catholic Church 103
Russell, Bertrand Arthur William 3rd Earl
life
affairs 12–13, 14, 16
Beacon Hill School 21–2, 105, 106–8
Cambridge University 6, 12, 17, 18, 25, 26
character 4
children 20–2, 23
earldom 22–3
early family life 2–4
imprisonments 16–17, 27–8, 115, 118
journalism on social
questions 23, 95
marriages 7–8, 10, 12, 18, 20, 23, 27, 99, 105
Nobel Prize 27, 95, 96, 99 nuclear disarmament
campaign 15, 27–8, 112–13, 117–18
Order of Merit investiture 26
pacifism 10, 14–18, 23, 27–8, 114–19
political career 12, 20, 86–7 premature obituary 20 travelling and lecturing 18–20, 23–5, 26–7
mathematics and logic
legacy to 130–1
paradox 37–40
Type Theory 40–3, 121, 124 philosophy
analytic 1–2, 124, 129, 131–4 criticism of theories 54–6 definitive descriptions
43–50
knowledge and perception theory 50–7
legacy 120–30
logical atomism 61–9
neutral monism 69–75 other minds 57–9
postulates 80–4
sometimes careless
approach to 134–5
views
on education 104–8
on ethics 85, 89–95
on morality 95–100
on politics 108–14
on religion 100–4
works by,
see under
individual titles
Russell, Conrad (son) 23
Russell, Frank 2nd Earl 4, 6, 22
Russell, John Conrad (son) 20, 21–2, 24
Russell, John Russell 1st Earl 2, 4
Russell, Kate (daughter) 20, 21–2, 24
Ryle, Gilbert 121, 122, 124, 128, 136

S

Satan in the Suburbs
(Russell) 27 Satre, Jean-Paul 28, 118
Sceptical Essays
(Russell) 20 science 60, 76, 78

inference and 79–84
philosophy of 32
physics 65
public space of 54
religion and 103
technological change 110

Scientific Outlook
(Russell) 23 Second World War 24–5, 114,

116–17
self-control 98, 99
sensations 72–3, 75, 76
sense-data 51–3, 54–5, 57–9, 65,

66, 68–9, 73, 75, 79 set theory 40
sex education 106
sexual morality 97–9, 103
Sidgewick, Henry 6, 93
simples 64–5, 66–7
Smith, Alys Pearsall 7–8, 12, 20 socialism 86, 111
Soviet Union 18, 26, 112, 117 space 53–4, 57, 59, 130
Spalding, D. A. 3–4
Spence, Patricia ‘Peter’ 23 Stanley of Alderley, Lord

(grandfather) 2
Stout, G. F. 6, 7
Strachey, Lytton 15
Strawson, P. F. 48, 130
subject-predicate propositions

35–6, 43, 62, 125
superstition 102–3
Sweden 26

T

tact 95–6
Theory of Descriptions,
see

Descriptions, Theory of
Theory of Knowledge
(Russell) 31,
57
thoughts 71–2
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
(Wittgenstein) 18, 68,
125–8
Trinity College, Cambridge 6, 12,
17, 18, 25, 26
truth 53
Type Theory 41–2, 41–3, 121–2,
124
Union of Democratic Control
16
uniqueness 47
United States 112, 117, 118 universals 52–3, 66–7
utilitarianism 89

V

Vietnam War 15, 28, 86, 115, 117, 118–19
Vuillemin, Jules 121, 124,
128–9

W

war crimes 28, 118
Ward, James 6
Webb, Sydney and Beatrice 105 Weiss, Professor Paul 25
What I Believe
(Russell) 20
Which Way to Peace?
(Russell) 23,

116
Whitehead, A. N. 2, 6, 11, 31, 40,
129
Whitehead, Evelyn 10
Why I Am Not A Christian
(Russell)
101–2
Wilson, Harold 86
Wittgenstein, Ludwig 1, 18, 26,
68, 123, 124, 125–8
World Government 88, 113–14,
117

U

UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) 24

Z

Zermelo, Ernst 121