Product Description
Bertrand Russell was an influential British philosopher and mathematician. The Conquest of Happiness, first published in 1930, was Russell's guide on how to live a happy life. Although it was 'of its time' it was also, certainly, ahead of its time. Russell's views were that true happiness could only be achieved through both personal thought and effort. These ideas made this book a true self-help classic before self-help even existed. Tim Phillips' interpretation of The Conquest of Happiness illustrates the timeless nature of Russell's insights by bringing them to life through 52 modern case studies. This brilliant interpretation of The Conquest of Happiness is an entertaining accompaniment to one of the most enlightening popular philosophy books ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
In this remarkable book, regarded by Russell as one of the most important of his career, he argues that Power is man's ultimate goal, and is, in its many guises, the single most important element in the development of any society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Russell wanted to invent a new science of human power
Russell intended this book to found a new science, of human power, in the societal sense. Power meaning 'the production of intended effects'.

Although this book is well worth reading, five stars for breadth of content, there are innumerable difficulties; which I'll try to sketch out... starting from the chapter headings -

I THE IMPULSE TO POWER/ II LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS
These chapters try to synthesis practical needs (e.g. houses have to be built somewhere) with giving and taking orders. 'Some men's characters lead them always to command, others always to obey; between these extremes lie the mass of average human beings..' He regards people as being influenceable in three ways - direct force, economic effects - goodies vs fines - and beliefs. He goes on to look at variations on these themes...

III THE FORMS OF POWER/ IV PRIESTLY POWER/ V KINGLY POWER/ VI NAKED POWER/ VII REVOLUTIONARY POWER/ VIII ECONOMIC POWER/ IX POWER OVER OPINION
Russell identifies 'power' as a central concept, like energy in physics, presumably derived in the same way by slowly noticing phenomena have things in common. Quite often he uses metaphors evidently based on things like kinetic energy, or stored energy. It's never quite clear whether his examples are idiosyncratic, one-off, unrepeatable illustrations which are only used e.g. to show power coalescing into ever-larger units, or whether the processes they illustrate are in principle considered to be capable of recurring. For instance, he says at one point that given a totalitarian state, all the forms of power he's considered become outdated and only of historical interest. He says somewhere else China has 'always been an exception to all rules'.

His category of 'revolutionary power' was no doubt influenced by the USSR. He includes early Christianity, the Reformation and 'rights of man' revolution, I hope not too optimistically. This category incidentally also shows Russell assumes things will evolve for the better - his whole book shows developments as tending to be beneficial. Thus he says e.g. 'Monarchy consequently remained weak until it had got the better of both the Church and the feudal [i.e. Germanic] nobility'. Russell is weak on the actual physics of the world: he doesn't consider e.g. Europe as subdivided by mountains and other obstacles, and thus packed with 'defensible space', as opposed to say the steppes of Russia or prairies of north America. He is in my view weak on economic power; he regards credit as the ability to transfer a consumable surplus from group A to group B, but doesn't mention the time element - which could be centuries. Incidentally he talks about 'coloured labour': 'Let us consider.. the power of the plutocracy in a democratic country. It has been unable to introduce Asiatic labour in California, except in early days in small numbers...' For some reason, he splits 'power over opinion' from creeds. It's worth noticing this is a Christian outlook, as many 'creeds' are not of a nature that can be separated from actions - Judaism, Islam, Confucianism interlock with their followers' habits.

X CREEDS AS SOURCES OF POWER/ XI THE BIOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONS/ XII POWERS AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT/ XIII ORGANIZATIONS AND THE INDIVIDUAL
Russell considers 'The classic example of power through fanaticism is the rise of Islam' which added nothing to Arabic economic power or technique, but nevertheless 'won'. It's a typical example from history taken from these not very satisfactory chapters. Russell was trying to decide whether fanaticism is likely to succeed, and come up with the classic liberal denial of this possibility: 'the cases in which fanaticism has brought nothing but disaster are much more numerous than those in which it has brought even temporary success. It ruined Jerusalem in the time of Titus, and Constantinople in 1453 ... It brought about the decay of Spain.. through the expulsion of the Jews and Moors ... the most successful nations, throughout modern times, have been those least addicted to the persecution of heretics. ... it is necessary to find a compromise between two opposite truisms. The first.. is: men who agree in their beliefs can co-operate more whole-heartedly than men who disagree. The second is: men whose beliefs are in accordance with fact are more likely to succeed than men whose beliefs are mistaken. ..'

On organisations, Russell regards law and medicine purely as professions with internal rules, but is not aware of the possibilities of legal frauds and corruption and medical frauds. In Britain in the 1930s, they were unthinkable, or at least unspeakable.

XIV COMPETITION/ XV POWER AND MORAL CODES/ XVI POWER PHILOSOPHIES/ XVII THE ETHICS OF POWER
Four more chapters dealing with (roughly) peoples' attitudes to power. 'Competition for power is of two sorts: between organizations, and between individuals for leadership within an organization. Competition .. only arises when they have objects which are more or less similar, but incompatible'.

Much of this material is 1930s-specific: Spanish Civil War, Stalin, Italy, and so on. Russell always takes the conventional 'western' side, which sits uneasily with philosophical objectivity. Thus there's a section on Mussolini fire-bombing in Abyssinia (but not on the British bombing Iraq at the same time). His comments are Jews are completely convention (and yet he has seen for himself Jewsih groups taking over and inventing the USSR). Hitler and Stalin are regarded as worshipping Wotan and Dialectical Materialism (in this way Russell is spared the examination of their actual deeds). 'It would be a mistake to suppose that big business, under Fascism, controls the State more than it does in England, France, or America. On the contrary, in Italy and Germany the State has used the fear of Communism to make itself supreme over big business as over everything else.' He loathes the German philosopher Fichte, and yet many British 'thinkers' had essentially similar ideas.

XVIII THE TAMING OF POWER
Russell has four preconditions - political, economic, and propaganda (shouldn't one of these be force?); and the psychological condition of people.

Russell had some mathematical skill, so it surprises me he didn't to find try some method of predicting quarrels and perhaps countering them. If group A has power measures as 100 units, and B has 75, and if A fights B, the relative and absolute power balances are likely to change. There's scope for group C to benefit, too. The great advantage of history as a guide is that the events did actually happen - if it's reliable history. Nobody uses a theoretical model of human behaviour to guess.

NB a new edition has a painfully embarrassing cover design - with an electric power plug!

Lots of good sense, little entertainment
As always, Russell shines with his clarity and unwavering good sense, but most of the book is pretty dry. The last chapter is by far the most interesting (in which he describes how to tame power) and some of his suggestions are novel even for today. I thoroughly enjoyed the last chapter but it couldn't make up for the many chapters of tiring text before it.

Broad Scope, Fascinating
Bertrand Russell's Power is very ambitious in scope.Support for his thesis that the taming of power should be of chief concern to thinking people (his favorite audience in the three Russell books I've read) includes support from references to ancient China, medieval Europe, Machiavelli, the American businessman, the rise of the Catholic Church, American reverence for the Constitution, causes of the Protestant Reformation, ancient Greece and Rome and their governments, and more.As is to be expected of Lord Russell, his writing is an edifying, entertaining glimpse into the mind of a genius.

Russell's descriptions of the motivations behind power seeking individuals and organizations, the appeal of leaders, types of power and the basis for authority are compelling.The means for acquiring and exercising power are described by Russell in a systematic, conspiratorial manner.By understanding its appeal and the methods by which it is attained, Russell argues, mankind can hope to tame power. I felt that in this book Russell sought to deliver a "world-view" a la Karl Marx, whose communist ideas were based on the belief that the source of conflict in the world was man's alienation.With a twist, Russell might say that man's (and man's organizations, which he grants develop an organic life of their own) grasping for power is the chief cause of pain, stifled freedom, and stunted progress.

It's important to keep in mind that this book was first published in 1938 - though it's not hard to do while reading since Russell continuously warns of an impending great war.He refers to WWI as the "War" and an imminent WWII as the "Great War."I think, perhaps, the great motivation for writing it may have been to explain the rise of despotic and totalitarian governments during the era preceding its publication.A defining quote is:

"No other organization rouses anything like the loyalty aroused by the national State.And the chief activity of the State is preparation for large-scale homicide.It is loyalty to this organization for death that causes men to endure the totalitarian State, and to risk the destruction of home and children and our whole civilization rather than submit to alien rule."

Russell is my favorite philosopher and I'm planning to read many more of his books.I strongly recommend his History of Western Philosophy and The Conquest of Happiness.Russell wrote so many books on such a wide variety of subjects.My qualms with Power are its over ambitious reach, the frenetic pace of the writing and Russell's disdain for business and economics.Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

clear and illuminating
Excellent discussion of Russell's philosophical logic.Discussion of epistemology is a bit less lucid. Highly recommend overall. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of Bertrand Russell's most important essays in the fields of logic and the theory of knowledge, which provide an understanding of the development of philosophy in England during the 20th century and of the influence upon one another of Moore, Russell and Wittgenstein. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great selection of russell's more technical papers
I would give 5 stars to Russell's essays but 3 stars to this edition.
This edition contains most of the important/technical papers that russel wrote & are still worth reading for any serious philosophy student. The editor did a great job at selection but his snobbish introductory essays prefacing each russell essay is a complete waste of space & (your) time. The editor should have but didn't bother to update the logical symbols in the 1st russell essay, 'logic of relations', with the result that it would be incomprehensible even to people trained in symbolic logic.
'philosophy of logical atomism', for me anyway, helps me understand wittgenstein's Tractatus, which was otherwise incomprehsible to me.
I didn't make it through 'on denoting'. Who would really care about this important but by now mainly historical essay if you have already learned quantification theory & description theory?

On Denoting
This book reproduces Russell's famous article 'On Denoting' that appeared in "Mind" in 1905.It provides the earliest account of his theory of descriptions that was later developed in principia mathematicaand 'improved' by W.V Quine. (It is however, a dog to read!) It is truly afundamental work in logical analysis and I recommend it to you all. ... Read more

Product Description
Four works by Bertrand Russell in one collection with an active table of contents. Works include:

The Analysis of Mind
Political Ideals
The Problems of Philosophy
Proposed Roads to Freedom
... Read more

Product Description

Logical Atomism is a philosophy that sought to account for the world in all its various aspects by relating it to the structure of the language in which we articulate information. In The Philosophy of Logical Atomism, Bertrand Russell, with input from his young student Ludwig Wittgenstein, developed the concept and argues for a reformed language based on pure logic. Despite Russell’s own future doubts surrounding the concept, this founding and definitive work in analytical philosophy by one of the world’s most significant philosophers is a remarkable attempt to establish a novel way of thinking.

Customer Reviews (3)

Russell's Antidote to the Monist Metaphysicians
Bertrand Russell, one of the fathers of modern analytical philosophy, started out as a student of the Hegelian, F. H. Bradley, but soon found himself in opposition to the kind of "monist" thinking Bradley exemplified. Russell made his major contributions to philosophy early on in the field of symbolic logic, which he all but revolutionized, and in the philosophy of mathematics, when he applied a logicist approach to establishing the fundamentals of mathematics in a joint effort with Alfred North Whitehead.

But Russell is not well remembered or studied today for this work though he lived a very long life thereafter and was much in the public eye as a peace activist, outspoken atheist (and some time agnostic) and all around spokesman for progressive ideas. What Russell is especially well known for in philosophical circles, however, is his role as teacher and mentor to the even more controversial and philosophically influential Viennese transplant, Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Cambridge philosopher who supplanted him and whose work helped undermine the logical foundations Russell had built for mathematics.

Wittgenstein first sought Russell out when, as an engineering student in England, he became fascinated by Russell's work. After their initial meeting Wittgenstein became his student and, at least at the outset, Russell's designated successor. It was during his time with Russell that Wittgenstein developed ideas, under Russell's tutelage, which were to influence Russell himself and, as Russell notes repeatedly in this book, became the source for Russell's own new philosophy of logical atomism.

Premised on Russell's opposition to Hegelian monism (the idea that everything is only fully comprehensible when seen as part of a greater whole), logical atomism was Russell's attempt to develop a metaphysics which accounted for the common sense reality of our experience and was consistent with the empirical tradition in British philosophy which stretched back at least as far as David Hume. Russell credits Wittgenstein in this book with having generated the ideas that led him to formulate logical atomism, a philosophy that sought to account for the world in all its various aspects by relating it to the structure of the language in which we articulate information about it.

Russell's fundamental aim, as he says in the lectures in this book, was to develop an "ideal" language, based on pure logic, which did away with all the ambiguities of everyday language and enabled us to describe things with superior accuracy and effectiveness for scientific purposes. In so doing he posited, with Wittgenstein, that our language, when properly clarified, broke down into a series of components which mirrored the world. Thus we could come to know our world rightly only by developing, learning and using this clarified form of communication, this ideal language.

Russell drew on the developments he had pioneered in symbolic logic to offer a breakdown of reality in terms of his reformed language. Fundamental in his assumptions was the claim that proper names as we normally used them were explainable via a theory of descriptions (each name seen as a shorthand for a series of descriptive propositions) whereas true names could not be broken down at all.

True names, for Russell, would be nothing like names as we normally use the term. Indeed, he posited that names in this sense would be things like "this" and "that" as used only at the moment when a this or a that was within our actual observation. Really basic components of reality, he argued, were fleeting sensory experiences like patches of colors in our visual field and everything we knew in reality was built up of these more basic, albeit fleeting, elements.

Language, argued Russell, must be seen, in its purest form, to mirror this breakdown bit for bit or, better, atom of experience for atom of expression. In so doing, language could be broken down to its components in the same way as reality could be broken down. But, while reality could only be broken down in this way theoretically (i.e., we could never see the real components of our experience in isolation in any integrated and useful way), language, he argued, could in fact be deconstructed to reveal its atomic parts and that was the real job of philosophy.

Along the same vein, propositions in language, he suggested, stated facts, understood as states of affairs which consisted of combinations of experienced phenomena which somehow existed in the world in a manner that paralleled how they were combined in our language. He suggested there were atomic and molecular propositions (the latter being so-called simple propositions combined by logical conjunctions). In this, he was no doubt deeply influenced by the new physics then taking hold and dominating scientific thinking, a physics which saw the material world as consisting of atoms and molecules. Overall, in this book, which is the definitive compilation of Russell's logical atomism, he is at great pains to develop this new linguistic metaphysic which he thought would enable us to speak more accurately about the world, a world he held, that was pluralist and thus "atomic," not "monist" in its fundamental form.

The most obvious thing one comes away with from these readings is just how artificial and convoluted Russell's efforts to construct a suitably empiricist metaphysic in this way appear to be. The lectures consistently devolve into logical minutiae, false trails and digressions. Russell repeatedly backs away from his own claims, saying more work needs to be done here or that he is just not able to clearly state what he wants to say there. Russell's argument for logical atomism, as noted by D. F. Pears in his introduction, is premised on several confused notions and diverges from Wittgenstein's parallel rationalist approach as exemplified in his own Tractatus-Logico Philosophicus (written during this same period).

Unlike Wittgenstein, Russell takes an empiricist approach, hoping to build up his metaphysical picture from the ground of actual observations as he presents his listeners with the atomic facts of a piece of chalk immediately before their eyes and speaks of "simples" which may somehow be found in the world. Wittgenstein, on the other hand, employed a reasoning process according to Pears in order to claim that so-called logical atoms must be there, even if no one had as yet actually found them. In the end, Wittgenstein gave up the hope of finding genuine atomic facts and propositions in favor of a revised view which, contrary to Russell's approach, found clarity in attention to ordinary language and not in some idealized form built on an artificial logical framework. Russell, though he subsequently revised his views, and gradually ceased pushing logical atomism to any great extent, never went along with his former pupil's new insights which saw language as its own phenomenon and not merely a reflector of something else.

But even before Wittgenstein's new thinking took hold, the logical positivism of the thinkers of the Vienna Circle, already under Wittgenstein's influence, supplanted Russell's unsuccessful empiricist metaphysic with a new approach that denied metaphysics entirely in favor of testing for logical sense via a demand that propositions either be empirically or analytically verifiable. If they failed such a test, the logical postivists, more radical than Russell, excluded them from the realm of sense entirely. Wittgenstein thought they missed his point, too, as he moved in fits and starts into his later period and his notion that philosophy was really about the language in which our ideas were couched, not about the world or its underlying ontology at all.

Russell's lectures in this book are fascinating for those with an interest in early analytical philosophy but they are mired in endless peregrinations as Russell struggles through what seems a dense forest of complexity to build a convincing picture of a logical atomist reality that cannot be easily articulated or, perhaps, satisfactorily articulated at all. This book is useful for understanding the later analytical work of Wittgenstein and those who were influenced by him, but it offers little beyond an historical record of an admirable, albeit failed, attempt to establish a new way of thinking.

SWM

Solid work by one of the top minds of the Century
An excellent short introduction to the philosophy of logical atomism. Thelectures should be read along with Wittgenstein's TractatusLogico-Philosophicus. Russell's logical atomism differs significantly fromWittgenstein's version of the theory but both share certain key featureswhich make the theory distinctive. Those who enjoy "mathematicalPhilosophy" will not be disappointed.

A Good Launching Pad for Russell's More Academic Philosophy
This brief work serves as a fine introduction to the academic Russell for those curious about what distinguishes him among philosophers of the twentieth century and/or for those chiefly familiar with his "popular" works, such as "Why I Am Not a Christian" and "Marriage and Morals."

While Philosophy of Logical Atomism certainly does not cover his academic philosophy in depth, and it contains a number of points that he later amended (this is true of much of his academic philosophy), it is a good starting point for the Russell initiate as he can be a very difficult read in other academic texts.

The Theory of Descriptions and the Theory of Types are both presented here.The Theory of Descriptions in its "indefinite" and "definite" form (as opposed to its presence as only the Definite Theory of Descriptions in Principia Mathematica).

Anyone with a serious interest in analytical philosophy should be familiar with this material, and at the very least, the Philosophy of Logical Atomism will defintely tell you who wrote Waverly. ... Read more

Product Description

In the second half of his life, Bertrand Russell transformed himself from a major philosopher, whose work was intelligible to a small elite, into a political activist and popular writer, known to millions throughout the world. Yet his life is the tragic story of a man who believed in a modern, rational approach to life and who, though his ideas guided popular opinion throughout the twentieth century, lost everything.

Russell's views on marriage, religion, education, and politics attracted legions of devoted followers and, at the same time, provoked harsh attacks from every direction. On the one hand, he was stripped of his post at New York's City College because he was thought to be a bad influence on his students, and on the other, he was awarded the Order of Merit, the Nobel Prize in literature, and a lifetime Fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge. He lived to be ninety-seven, and as he became older he became increasingly controversial. Monk quotes Russell's telegrams to Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis, an influence that Russell and his followers believed tipped the balance toward peace. Russell devoted his last years to a campaign organized by his secretary to lend support to Che Guevara's call for a globally coordinated revolutionary struggle against "U.S. imperialism." Until now, this last campaign has been misunderstood as a -- perhaps misguided, but nevertheless innocent -- plea for world peace. Monk reveals it was no such thing.

Drawing on thousands of documents collected at the Russell archives in Canada, Monk steers through the turbulence of Russell's public activities, scrutinizing his sometimes paradoxical and often outrageous pronouncements. Monk's focus, however, is on the tragedy of Russell's personal life, and in revealing this inner drama Monk has relied heavily on the cooperation of Russell's surviving relatives and access to previously unexamined legal and private correspondence. A central player in Russell's life was his first son, John. Russell applied the methods of the new science of child psychology in his parenting, believing that a new generation of children could be reared to be "independent, fearless, and free." But instead of being a model of this new generation, John became anxious, withdrawn, and eventually schizophrenic. Nor was John's daughter Lucy (who was Russell's favorite grandchild) to be a model of the new generation; gradually she grew so emotionally disturbed that, at the age of twenty-six, she took her own life.

The Ghost of Madness completes the most searching examination yet published of Bertrand Russell's unique life and work. Together with Ray Monk's highly praised first volume of the biography, The Spirit of Solitude, this is the classic account of an extraordinary man who championed the great ideas of the twentieth century and was all but destroyed by them. It is a portrait of the mind of a century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Examples of Monk's anti-Russell Bias
As other reviews point out, Monk, who worships Wittgenstein and was generally sympathetic in treating the first half of Russell's life, turns totally negative in the second volume. He criticizes Russell's popular hack-work writing, his radical politics, and his chaotic sexual and family life. Even if one were to share Monk's politics and prudery, one would have to admit that Monk overgeneralizes his attack on Russell.

Monk's criticisms of Russell go beyond the personal and political vendetta even to Russell's technical work. An example of this is Monk's treatment of Russell's book "The Analysis of Matter." (Monk, pp.71-3.) Monk dismisses Russell's structural account of physics, and backs his rejection by citing Russell's own premature acceptance of the thrust of the critical review by the topologist Newman. Russell, despite his apparent vanity and enormous ego tended to overly quickly accept criticism of others, for instance Wittgenstein's criticism of the early manuscript of Russell's theory of knowledge, which the latter did not himself publish. Ironically structuralism or structural realism is a major contender in the philosophy of contemporary theoretical physics. Many cutting edge philosophers of modern physics, for instance Steven French and James Ladyman, treat this approach as a live and serious option. Others, such as Thomas Ryckman treat it as an opposing view worthy of counter-argument. Monk, driven by his anti-Russell animus gone wild, casually dismisses this approach as worthless, ignorant of more recent developments in the philosophy of physics.

Another example is in Monk's treatment of Russell's more serious historical and political writings. Monk dismisses Russell's work "Power" (pp. 212-14) as simply an emotive and banal piece of sermonizing, devoid of any theoretical analysis. It is odd then that Steven Lukes, for instance, includes Russell, along with theorists such as Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, Georg Simmell, Habermas, John Kenneth Garlbraith, and Foucault, in his anthology on "Power."

Similarly Monk dismisses Russell's "Freedom and Organization 1814-1914" as "amateurish" and "not a serious contribution to the historical literature" because it does not contain historical research based on original documents. He ignores that it might be a useful and insightful summary of the main trends of the period.

These are just three examples of the way that Monk in his vendetta against Russell and in some ways understandable dislike of Russell's personality has to discredit even Russell's more serious contributions of his later period.

Thanks Ray!

Having read "Wittgenstein", then vol 1 of this biography, this was a natural and exciting follower. I certainly have to wonder what connection there is to a life associated, at least ab initio, with mathematics and failure in one's personal life. Considering the connection between logic, mathematics, and reasoning, and our need for success with those to be successful in one's life in general, this certainly brings up an issue of a golden mean between extremes. It perhaps also brings up an issue of autism and the genetic predisposition to autism as a range of autism might on one hand lead to outstanding mathematical accomplishment accompanied by outstanding social failure.

It is such a shame that such a great mind would give up such important work for lack of - self discipline? Self control? A family madness? Most telling I thought was the quote given in response to the question "Why did you give up philosophy?" Since his response is shocking but stabs to the heart of the personal difficulties experienced by BR and successfully passed on to almost all of his children and grandchildren one has to wonder was this nurture or nature. A clue seems to be the success of those who had the earliest and longest break in contact. The less contact the more success?

Perhaps an errata sheet should be made available regarding the apparent deleted words. One sentence especially seemed to need "not" to make sense in context, but in general I found my reading to be abruptly halted with the awareness of a word missing - in a context where I could know precisely what word would have been right. I half wonder if RM was using a new word processor or something? I did not notice this at all with vol. 1.

Regardless, of all the things worth reading this will always be high on my recommend list. Great philosophers are easier to understand when we know as much as we can about them as persons. Thanks Ray! Eternally grateful.

Autobiography vs. biography
Because of Russell's political views (his opposition to war and U.S. imperialism) he has always been the subject of attacks by other intellectuals (the late Sidney Hook is a prime example).One only has to compare Monk's work on Russell to his biography of Wittgenstein ("The Duty of Genius" says it all).The interesting thing about each of Monk's biographies is that while both men led solitary lives and maintained erratic beliefs and behavior, Russell is castigated as a "madman" while Wittgenstein is a "genius."It is far too easy as a biographer to portray intellectual celebrities as either geniuses or madman.If you want to hear from the person, Bertie Russell, read his biography instead.

A tormented volcanic island who spilled a lot of lavae
This exceptional book is a sequel to The Spirit of Solitude, written by Ray Amok, which covers the first 50 years of Russell's life, and which could be summarized by achieving world fame and academic glory by means of his early work as a philosophical mathematician, specially trough his "Principia Matematica",a monumental theoretical work, with the co-authorship of Whitehead.

Ray Monk magistrally portrays Russell as facing now the challenge of taking a new direction to his life, trying to achieve the same level of academical glory when entering into new fields of knowledge. The story is of a genius who had to prove to himself that he had not lost his intelectual vigour in the ageing proccess and at the same time , balancing his mundane needs trough popular texts written to readers not specialized in philosophy and mathematics, and many other areas where he was proficient.

He marriages now for the second time in his life, with Dora, with he would generate a son (John) and a daughter (Kate), began for him a new era as an educator and as a mass-comunicator, where he approached all the available means (newspapers, magazines, radio panels and lectures) in order to make money thus providing the material means for his special ideas on how to educate hischildren. He wrote many books on the subject and even inaugurated a special school where his two children where educated along with the children of some upper-class Englishmen and Americans.

He was two be married again twice and to have more children with Peter (yes, a very special nickname of his third wive). In terms of the outcome he got, it was nothing anyone could foresee at the beginning.

To sum it up, the book is a faithful portrait of a tormentedman, surrounded by all kinds of people who loved/hated him, and who seems to destroy everyinch of happiness one could have beforegetting to know him. Strange as it seems, the man who was trying to save the world with his pacifist stand against nazism, and later comunism, and all forms of totalitarianism, was incapable of understand the human nature of all people who lived with him.

This is a good book to read to everyone interested in philosophy and in the life of the greatest philosopher of the 20th century.

Remarkable biography.
The chilling story of Bertrand Russell's disastrous later life: his ferocious battles with his children, wives and mistresses, his financial needs covered by second-rate newspaper articles and American lectures for older women, his sometimes quite naive political struggles on the side of socialism (all land and capital must be the property of the State) and the peace movement. At the end of his life, he allowed himself to be totally neutralized by an American CIA agent (I quote Bryan Magee). For the author, the reason for these disasters were two fundamental traits of Russell's character: a deep seated fear of madness (a constant in his family) and a quite colossal vanity.
The big shock of his life was the destructive First World War. He became a profound misanthrope, who lost all confidence in humanity. It put nearly an end to all serious philisophical and mathematical work.
Thoroughly documented and extremely well narrated work. The author is very good acquainted with philosophy and mathematics. I miss one name in this provoking work: Karl Popper. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1984 as part of The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Theory of Knowledge represents an important addition to our knowledge of Russell's thought. Russell's subsequent difficulties in presenting his theory of knowledge, brought on by what he considered to be devastating criticisms of Wittgenstein, led to both his abandonment of this work and to a major transformation in his thought. Theory of Knowledge, now available for the first time in paperback, gives us a picture of one of the great minds of the twentieth century at work. It is possible to see the unsolved problems left without disguise or evasion. This second edition has retained the full scholarly introduction. The photographs of the manuscript, appendices, and notes on textual matters have been eliminated to provide a concise and accessible guide to understanding both Russell's own thought and his relationship with Wittgenstein. ... Read more

Product Description
Philosophy is one of the most intimidating and difficult of disciplines, as any of its students can attest. This book is an important entry in a distinctive new series from Routledge: The Great Philosophers. Breaking down obstacles to understanding the ideas of history's greatest thinkers, these brief, accessible, and affordable volumes offer essential introductions to the great philosophers of the Western tradition from Plato to Wittgenstein.
In just 64 pages, each author, a specialist on his subject, places the philosopher and his ideas into historical perspective. Each volume explains, in simple terms, the basic concepts, enriching the narrative through the effective use of biographical detail. And instead of attempting to explain the philosopher's entire intellectual history, which can be daunting, this series takes one central theme in each philosopher's work, using it to unfold the philosopher's thoughts.Amazon.com Review
Volume I of Ray Monk's life of Bertrand Russell is apenetrating and highly critical portrait of one of this century's mostinfluential intellectual figures.Monk's talents as a writer and hisknowledge of philosophy produce clear and lucid prose that issophisticated in its understanding, yet doesn't shy away from thedishy details that make the book compelling.This initial volume takes usthrough the first fifty years of Russell's private, public, andintellectual life.We follow Russell through his boyhood andschooling, his two marriages and countless love affairs, hisfriendships with eminent intellectuals such as JosephConrad, T. S. Eliot (plus an affair with Eliot's wife Vivien), and the members of the BloomsburyGroup, up to the birth of Russell's son in 1921.The inner Russellis tumultuous, fighting off fears of madness, and full of insatiablelongings.We also see Russell's public life: his outspoken commitmentto pacifism which ultimately led to his imprisonment, as well as hisearly advocacy and later disillusionment with socialism.Ray Monk isparticularly adept at explicating Russell's philosophy: his desire tobring an end to interminable philosophical debates by developing newtechniques for the logical analysis of philosophical problems.In Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Dutyof Genius, Monk demonstrated that cracking good stories exist inthe arcana of academic philosophy and in the lives of philosophers.The vastness of Russell's life and the breadth of his interests, inaddition to the brilliance of his mind, makes Monk's story all themore captivating. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Reaching an overwhelming sense of the man
This is simply amazing. Not only did BR write a thorough journal, but his friends, lovers, and associates, and their friends, lovers, and associates did too. And letters from all to all practically! We come to a sense of understanding BR et al better than they knew themselves. More: this has everything to do with the philosophy of BR. I wouldn't have believed it and often I feel wonderment about why we needed to know "that", good grief, when low and behold, there is the connection with the work. Had it not been for the life BR lived we would not have his work. It is enough to make you certain that our paradigm - learn the history of the man to understand him - is certainly a winning paradigm because of what it shows. It also encourages me to reflect on my own life. How can one read so intensely into the life of another without it having such an effect? Thoughts like: remember this! It was just so. BR expresses it so well. And Ray Monk does such a good job making it accessible, certainly having found it reliving the life of BR from the philosophers point of view as well as the lovers and students. Since I have also read Wittgenstein, I loved the cross over and the record of the various steps in their relationship felt the richer for having read both. Life is great when you have great books like this on a beautiful summer evening.

An idealist mathematician turned sceptic
The first part of Ray Monk's outstanding biography of Bertrand Russell centres more on his love life than on his philosophical or political evolution.
It shows us a restless Russell, fearing (hereditary) madness and becoming a real womanizer after the break-up of his first marriage.
The number of letters which Russell wrote to his (ex-)lovers is truly amazing and Ray Monk quotes profusely from them.
The reactions of the husband of Ottoline Morrell, Russell's lifelong friend and most important mistress, shows that apparently promiscuity in the British High Society was not a problem.
On the philosophical front, Ray Monk doesn't explain very clearly Russell's essential logical discoveries (see B. Magee - Confessions of a philosopher). On the other hand, the importance of Peano's work, his clashes with Wittgenstein (who torpedoed a big part of Russell's work) and D.H. Lawrence (for Russell, a fascist) as well as his questioning of G. Frege (whose work was annihilated by one question by Russell) are very well documented.
Politically, Russell became a utopian socialist (no private property, which was the source of all evil) and later a real liberal fighting for universal suffrage also for women.
A key event in his life was the outbreak of WWI. It shattered definitively his trust in mankind. He became a sceptic and a convinced pacifist for the rest of his life.

Although I found that there were too many love letter excerpts in this book, it remains a fascinating read.

One of the most brilliantly significantbooks Ever written!
This is one of the most stimulating, dazzling, intellectually satisfying, strangely comforting books that I have ever read.

As an academic myself, devoted to the lonely quest for truth, this book was strangely comforting, as I could empathise with some of the struggles Bertrand Russell endured.

This book (along with Lance Armstrong's "It's not about the Bike" and Dag Hammarskjold's "Markings") is very important to me. By reading the many excerpts it includes of Russell's letters and diaries, I have come across many stunningly phrased morsels of eloquence - yes, Russell's behaviour is sometimes horrifying, yet rather than this make the book unpleasant, it actually made it a learning experience. I learnt things about humanity that were meaningful to me, and I experienced (and learnt from) the many exquisite phrases.

Any negativity concerning Russell's character was, from my perspective, *completely* eclipsed by the rewarding, educating and intellectually and emotionally intense experience of reading this remarkable book.
I do not that often discover books that are very meaningful and brilliant; I would be very happy if over the next few years I accidentally stumble upon a *handful* of books that measure up to the standards that my current favourites have achieved. Until then I will just have to re-read my favourites.

(I found this book so dense with insight that I actually started a file on my computer where I type notes from this biography concerning ideas and phrases that were particularly interesting/beautiful.)

A biography the size of the Bertrand Russell
Strange as it may seem, I began to read this book after reading its sequel, but got the same good impression of it all, because what counts most is both the stature of Bertrand Russel and the way it is portrayed by Ray Monk.
"The Spirit of Solitude" is simply fascinating, covering the years Russell dedicated to the philosophy of Mathematics, a subject that is so complex, that completely absorved him, causing his first marriage to collapse amidst great personnal pain to his wife, making Russell to seek love comfort with women who could fulfill the maternal absence to a man who lost both his parents when a child. The pressure exerted upon him by his grandmother is also elucidative on the ways he chose to mantain his personall life amid a curtain of secrecy, something instrumental in his future evolution as a philosopher.
The apex of his career was hit when he published, along with Whithehead, the voluminous Principia Mathematica, a 4.500 pages book, which took some 10 years of his best efforts, and which was dedicated to the foundations of philosophical thinking in Mathematics. It was such a difficult book to read that even Russell expected that no more than a handfull of great mathematicians could read and understand what was there meant.
This book is a must for everyone interested in Philosophy and the philosophy of mathematical thinking.

Yes, it is as good as they say.
I can only agree with what has gone before. A truly wonderful "book", if that's what you call these short 58 page things. Takes the view that the "fall" from Platonism to nominalism in mathematics is the key to Russell's development as a philosopher.I don't know if it's true or not, since Russell had such a complicated life, but it is an utterly fascinating hypothesis, and completely accessible, as Monk unfolds the account. The writing is so smooth I could barely tell when Monk transitioned to new topics. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook contains four important works by British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell, including his influential THE ANALYSIS OF MIND.Russell (1872-1970) led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Frege and his protégé Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, criticized Soviet totalitarianism, and the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

This ebook is DRM free and includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Contents:

The Analysis of Mind
Political Ideals
The Problems of Philosophy
Proposed Roads to Freedom
... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook THE ANALYSIS OF MIND was written by British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell.Russell (1872-1970) led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Frege and his protégé Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, criticized Soviet totalitarianism, and the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

This ebook is DRM free.
... Read more

Product Description
Bertrand Russell wrote most of his Philosophical Essays during the first decade of this century, a period when he was at the height of his creative energy in the realms of philosophy and mathematics. These seven essays display Russell's incisiveness and brilliance of exposition in the examination of ethical subjects and the nature of truth. They also mark an important stage in the evolution of Russell's thought. ... Read more

Product Description

First published in 1961, Fact and Fiction is a collection of Bertrand Russell’s essays that reflect on the books and writings that influenced his life, including fiction, essays on politics and education, divertissements and parables. Also broaching on the highly controversial issues of war and peace, it is in this classic collection that Russell states some of his most famous pronouncements on nuclear warfare and international relations. It is a remarkable book that provides valuable insight into the range of interests and depth of convictions of one of the world’s greatest philosophers.

Customer Reviews (1)

A superb collection of essays
Bertrand Russell often gathered essays he thought would have lasting value, and published them as collections. This book not only has essays, but the text of talks he gave on the BBC. The topics are wide anddisparate. He begins with books (and their authors) that made a deepimpression on him while he was in his formative years. Then follow essayson politics, starting off with "What is Freedom?" and "Whatis Democracy?" -- two basic questions that many people don't eventhink about. The "Divertissement" section contains pieces offiction. Russell stated that he found fiction a useful medium to expressideas he half-believed in, but had no firm grounds for belief. The lastsection is on "Peace and War," and includes the famous Vienna andManchester addresses on nuclear bombs. His style is incisive and pithy asusual. If you like Russell, you should not miss reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description
An Unabridged, Digitally Enlarged Printing Of Volume III Of III With Additional Errata To Volumes I And II: Part V - SERIES (Continued) - Well Ordered Series - Finite And Infinite Series And Ordinals - Compact Series, Rational Series, And Continuous Series - Part VI - QUANTITY - Generalization Of Number - Vector-Families - Measurement - Cyclic Families ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't buy this book unless you are a collector of famous books
This book was published in 1910 and its style is not suitable for studying math, so its value is mostly as a historic perspective. In my opinion, this book belongs only in specialized libraries since it is not suitable for students and frankly I don't see what anyone would learn to use from it. I have great respect for both authors for their contribution in the mathematics, but the book is antiquated. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook POLITICAL IDEALS was written by British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell.Russell (1872-1970) led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 1900s. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Frege and his protégé Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, criticized Soviet totalitarianism, and the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

This ebook is DRM free.
... Read more

Product Description

First published in 1925, Bertrand Russell’s ABC of Relativity was considered a masterwork of its time, contributing significantly to the mass popularisation of science. Authoritative and accessible, it provides a remarkable introductory guide to Einstein’s theory of Relativity for a general readership. One of the most definitive reference guides of its kind, and written by one of the twentieth century’s most influential philosophers, ABC of Relativity continues to be as relevant today as it was on first publication.

Customer Reviews (2)

ABZ of Relativity
I think this book can justifiably be called ABZ of relativity. The author sincerely tries to tell us about relativity by building up from basic elements, but at the point it gets to the stuff that is supposed be really interesting, it becomes unintelligible for the less gifted. He gives three pages to tell us about the difference between mass and weight, but the central concept of "interval" is used for some pages before being poorly defined and explained. I am positively sure he understands relativity and all, and I am sure those definitions are correct in the strictest sense, however they didn't help a beginner, at least in this case. Having said this though, this book is still a very nice read and could be read even if only for its strange humor and wisecracks.

A Philosopher who truly understands relativity
Bertrand Russel was an excellent writer, and one of the few philosophers who truly understood relativity. This book is also a classic. However, the book attempts to explain relativity to the layman using "text" only. The book is not mathematical, and it contains very few graphs or diagrams. This is not the best approach to explaining relativity. Good graphs/diagrams/images can to a certain extent replace equations. There are many modern introductory books and multimedia presentations that does a better at job at introducing relativity.

I recommend this book as a "classic", but not as an introduction to relativity for the non-physicist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Vietnam - some of the (very repellent) truth by a very skilful writer
Collection of essays, rather than one continuous book, published in 1967 when Russell, the philospher, was in his 90s. The magisterial introductory essay looks at the French conquest, the First World War, Ho Chi Minh and others in Paris, the Second World War including Japan, and Dien Bien Phu where the French were decisively defeated. After this the Americans took over, though of course the period was dominated politically in the USA by Jews, notably Kissinger.

Four stars because several issues are, understandably really, played down: the influence of atholicism - a tiny layer of converts in countries conquered by France became the new elite'. The influence of Jews of course is ignored - a 20th century convention. There is little on 'imperialism' - control of finance is omitted, and there isn't much detail on raw materials nd markets. And the money-making aspect of war - war profiteers, the 'warbucks' aspect - isn't spotlit.

This book preceded Russell's War Crimes Tribunal, published under the media-crit but not search-friendly title 'Prevent the Crime of Silence'.

Very disgusting stuff; I think this is what led Robert Faurisson to say the USAF killed more hildren than any other organistion. Note incidentally the part played by the 'Holocaust' fraud - US commentators could say, well, in comparison with the Holocaust, this wasn't much - only a few million dead.

About five years after this book, Chomsky's Backroom Boys appeared, the rather mild comment of which in retrospect seems like an apologia for Kissinger and other establishment war criminals.In fact it may not be too much to say that Chomsky's job was to minimise the secret acts of Jewish war criminals.

Should Of, Would Of, Could Of
Like some of the people that inhabit this fine work, I blame myself for not reading this book and others like it, back when Vietnam was appearing on my radar. I accepted the mainstream press version, and now regit it. Still I wonder IF I would have believed it. So into mainstream's mindset, would this have cracked that hard nut indoctrination of - America land of liberty & justice for all? Today, I don't have any doubts whatsoever on the authencity of Russells work. It is damning, it is still being perpetrated in new lands, with the same deadly consequences.
If I could pretend that I was reading this for the first time I would start with the postscript at the end & then continue with the appendix that follows. The postscript concerns a letter and the appendix is the story of some Vietnamese who lived through this period discussed. It is not for those with uneasy stomachs or those who are prone to tears. Then, having thus framed the period, begin reading and be shamed. There is no other words. Except that history is being repeated and now forwarned, become forearmed.
The author appeals to us that a united and co-ordinated resistence to the exploitation and domination, by our government upon oppressed people, must be forged. A popular struggle would then remove resources from this U.S. imperialism and, in so doing, strengthen the people of the United States itself, who are trying to understand what is really going on, and are striving to overcome their cruel leaders who have usurped their revolution and their government. He made the aforementioned appeal in January of 1966.
An enlighting read on a very dark period that still cast dark shadows over us today. A read, that is so blindly stark in reality, it may not be for those who prefer the formula Hollywood endings.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
The Analysis of Mind
Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays
Political Ideals
The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
The Problem of China
The Problems of Philosophy
Proposed Roads To Freedom
... Read more

Product Description
The Problems of Philosophy (1912) is one of Bertrand Russell's attempts to create a brief and accessible guide to the problems of philosophy. Focusing on problems he believes will provoke positive and constructive discussion, Russell concentrates on knowledgerather than metaphysics.

If it is uncertain that external objects exist, how can we then have knowledge of them but by probability. There is no reason to doubt the existence of external objects simply because of sense data.

Russell guides the reader through his famous 1910 distinction between "knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description" and introduces important theories of Plato, Aristotle, René Descartes, David Hume, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel and others to lay the foundation for philosophical inquiry by general readers and scholars alike. -- from Wikipedia ... Read more