The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays (Littlefield, Adams Quality Paperback, No. 273) [Paperback]

Bertrand Russell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822602733 | ISBN-13: 978-0822602736 | Publication Date: 1977

Studies on rational conjecture, inference, and reckoning.

Product Details

• Paperback: 119 pages
• Publisher: Littlefield Adams Quality Paperbacks (1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822602733
• ISBN-13: 978-0822602736
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,879,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970). Philosopher, mathematician, educational and sexual reformer, pacifist, prolific letter writer, author and columnist, Bertrand Russell was one of the most influential and widely known intellectual figures of the twentieth century. In 1950 he was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1950 for his extensive contributions to world literature and for his "rationality and humanity, as a fearless champion of free speech and free thought in the West."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars How to think rationally, July 10, 2011

By 

Jordan Bell (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays (Littlefield, Adams Quality Paperback, No. 273) (Paperback)

This collection comprises three essays. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about the subject of philosophy, who should have read some other philosophy before coming to this book. In this book Russell teaches philosophical hygiene, for removing or avoiding the sepsis of irrational beliefs and methods of reasoning. The Art of Rational Conjecture: this essay is mostly about how to be rational than how to conjecture. To be rational demands training both the intellect and the emotions. To train the intellect, learn areas that are least open to debate, especially mathematics, to see what a solid argument is and to become used to unemotional reasoning. Experience in logical reasoning will show both the kinds of mistakes which even experienced reasoners can make, and will bad reasoning more apparent. For example, if I am against the persecution of some group it does not logically follow that I think this group is virtuous. Also, science is concerned with general laws, which is also the thing about which a philosopher cares. To train the emotions a philosopher should have an impersonal outlook, which can view persons as products of circumstances which we can change rather than uselessly preaching to those persons. To train the emotions a philosopher should also try hard to have as general an outlook as possible. Russell advises that on the one hand different people perceive a thing differently, but on the other there is typically a shared core of their different experiences which the philosopher should then study.

The Art of Drawing Inferences: there is deductive and inductive logic. A huge amount has been written about inductive reasoning, and this is a fine place to start reading about it. Don't start learning logic by learning syllogisms, rather learn modern deductive logic. We gain confidence in a hypothesis if it leads to true conclusions, especially if those conclusions are precise. If a new theory of meteorology leads to the conclusion that there will be a storm in Toronto sometime in July this is worth almost nothing as evidence in its favor, while if a new theory predicts that rain will start at 3pm on July 10 and this happens then this is very good evidence in its favor. An hypothesis that is to be proved by induction should be formulated as generally as possibly, to make it easier to test if it is false and to confirm the hypothesis by more cases where it holds. Instead of verifying that the sun rises each morning by induction, deduce the sun's rising from the physics and then inductively investigate physics.

The Art of Reckoning: this explains what mathematics is about and why a philosopher should be interested in it. This essay would be helpful for boosting the morale of students in a math class, who may be discourage learning math which they will probably not directly apply. Indeed if one isn't a mathematician there's a good chance they will never need to use the quadratic formula, but that is not the proper point of learning math.

Like all Bertrand Russell's essays, these are clearly written and are a pleasure to read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully intelligent and fun., September 17, 2006

By 

Ben (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Philosophizing: and Other Essays (Littlefield, Adams Quality Paperback, No. 273) (Paperback)

Beautiful and lucid exposition of art of rational conjecture in Russell's most enjoyable style.