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Unpopular Essays 12 Adventures in Argument by the Winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature Unknown Binding

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Bertrand Russell
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schneffke

interesting

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2019

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liked the topics

reason: info, edu

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M. Walker

Interesting in ideas and style

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2012

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Essays on philosophy and how a humane approach to life and politics could increase human happiness. Very interesting; some are extremely applicable for today and some predictions did not come true. I use it in my first-year composition class and it gives students a good idea of what a well-written essay is like and how sophisticated ideas can be presented in a clear and interesting style.

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Anel Alatorre Mercado

Excelente libro

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2020

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Excelente libro en muy buen estado llegó antes de la fecha estimada

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THE EMINENT INTELLECTUAL STATES HIS OPINIONS ON A VARIETY OF SUBJECTS

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2015

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was an influential British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and political activist. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in recognition of his many books such as A History of Western Philosophy , The Problems of Philosophy , The Philosophy of Logical Atomism , The Analysis of Mind , Our Knowledge of the External World , Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits , Mysticism and Logic , etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1950 collection of essays, “Most of the following essays, which were written at various times during the last fifteen years, are concerned to combat, in one way or another, the growth of dogmatism, whether of the Right or of the Left, which has hitherto characterized our tragic century. This serious purpose inspires them even if, at times, they seem flippant, for those who are solemn and pontifical are not supposed to be successfully fought by being even more solemn and even more pontifical. A word as to the title. In the Preface to my ‘Human Knowledge’ I said that I was writing not only for professional philosophers… Reviewers took me to task, saying they found parts of the book difficult, and implying that my words were such as to mislead purchasers. I do not wish to expose myself again to this charge; I will therefore confess that there are several sentences in the present volume which some unusually stupid children of ten might find a little puzzling. On this ground I do not claim that the essays are popular; and if not popular, then ‘unpopular.’”

[NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 175-page Touchstone paperback edition.]

In “Philosophy for Laymen,” he suggests, “if philosophy is to serve a positive purpose, it must not teach mere skepticism, for, while the dogmatist is harmful, the skeptic is useless. Dogmatism and skepticism are both… absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is CERTAINTY, whether of knowledge or of ignorance.” (Pg. 27)

In “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish,” he states, “the intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic… Nowadays, however, calculating machines do sums better than ever the cleverest people, yet no one contends that these useful instruments are immoral, or work by divine inspiration. As arithmetic has grown easier, it has come to be less respected. The consequence is that, though many philosophers continue to tell us what fine fellows we are, it is no longer on account of our arithmetical skill that they praise us.” (Pg. 72)

He continues, “When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy… condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God. For … lightning is sent by God to punish impiety or some other grave sin---the virtuous are never struck by lightning… But God was equal to the occasion, if we are to believe the eminent Dr. Price, one of the leading divines of Boston… Massachusetts was shaken by earthquakes, which Dr. Price perceived as due to God’s wrath… Apparently, however, Providence gave up all hope of curing Boston of its wickedness, for, though lightning-rods become more and more common, earthquakes in Massachusetts have remained rare.” (Pg. 74)

He goes on, “Venereal disease is [supposedly] God’s punishment for sin. It is true that, through a guilty husband, this punishment may fall on an innocent woman and her children, but this is a mysterious dispensation of Providence which it would be impious to question. We must also not inquire why venereal disease was not divinely instituted until the time of Columbus.” (Pg. 79)

He asserts, “Sin consists in disobedience to God’s commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, then nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobey His commands, He must have intended this to happen… But most theologians, in modern times, have felt that, if God causes men to sin, it is not fair to send them to hell for what they cannot help… IF everything happens in accordance with God’s will, God must have wanted Nero to murder his mother; therefore, since God is good, the murder must have been a good thing. From this argument there is no escape.” (Pg. 81)

He observes, “To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind are prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not free from ALL error, but from silly error. If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew… Ancient and medieval authors knew all about unicorns and salamanders; not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them because he had never seen one of them.”
(Pg. 103)

In “Ideas that Have Helped Mankind,” he states, “We have also become… progressively less like animals… As to happiness, I am not so sure… We suffer not only the evils that actually befall us, but all those that our intelligence tells us we have reason to fear. The curbing of impulses to which we are led by forethought averts physical disaster at the cost of worry, and general lack of joy. I do not think that the learned men of my acquaintance, even when they enjoy a secure income, are as happy as the mice who eat the crumbs from their tables while the erudite gentlemen snooze. In this respect, therefore, I am not convinced that there has been any progress at all.” (Pg. 125)

He continues, “Man, viewed morally, is a strange amalgam of angel and devil. He can feel the splendor of the night, the delicate beauty of spring flowers, the tender emotion of parental love, and the intoxication of intellectual understanding…. Universal love is an emotion which many have felt… This is one side of the picture. On the other side are cruelty, greed, indifference, and overweening pride… We know what the Nazis did to the Jews at Auschwitz. In mass cruelty, the expulsions of Germans ordered by the Russians fall not very short of the atrocities perpetuated by the Nazis. And how about our noble selves? We would not do such deeds, oh no! But we enjoy our juicy steaks and our hot rolls while German children die of hunger because our governments dare not face our indignation if they asked us to forego some part of our pleasures. If there were a Last Judgment as Christians believe, how do you think our excuses would sound before that final tribunal?” (Pg. 135)

In “Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind,” he contends, “Male domination has had some very unfortunate effects. It made one of the most intimate of human relations, that of marriage, one of master and slave, instead of one between equal partners… By the seclusion which it forced upon respectable women it made them dull and uninteresting; the only women who could be interesting and adventurous were social outcasts… All this has more or less ended in civilized countries, but it will be a long time before either men or women learn to adapt their behavior completely to the new state of affairs.” (Pg. 158-159)

This is an excellent and provocative selection of Russell’s “later” and less explicitly “political” essays.

2 people found this helpful

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THE EMINENT INTELLECTUAL STATES HIS OPINIONS ON A VARIETY OF SUBJECTS

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2015

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was an influential British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and political activist. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in recognition of his many books such as A History of Western Philosophy , The Problems of Philosophy , The Philosophy of Logical Atomism , The Analysis of Mind , Our Knowledge of the External World , Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits , Mysticism and Logic , etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1950 collection of essays, “Most of the following essays, which were written at various times during the last fifteen years, are concerned to combat, in one way or another, the growth of dogmatism, whether of the Right or of the Left, which has hitherto characterized our tragic century. This serious purpose inspires them even if, at times, they seem flippant, for those who are solemn and pontifical are not supposed to be successfully fought by being even more solemn and even more pontifical. A word as to the title. In the Preface to my ‘Human Knowledge’ I said that I was writing not only for professional philosophers… Reviewers took me to task, saying they found parts of the book difficult, and implying that my words were such as to mislead purchasers. I do not wish to expose myself again to this charge; I will therefore confess that there are several sentences in the present volume which some unusually stupid children of ten might find a little puzzling. On this ground I do not claim that the essays are popular; and if not popular, then ‘unpopular.’”

[NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 175-page Touchstone paperback edition.]

In “Philosophy for Laymen,” he suggests, “if philosophy is to serve a positive purpose, it must not teach mere skepticism, for, while the dogmatist is harmful, the skeptic is useless. Dogmatism and skepticism are both… absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is CERTAINTY, whether of knowledge or of ignorance.” (Pg. 27)

In “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish,” he states, “the intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic… Nowadays, however, calculating machines do sums better than ever the cleverest people, yet no one contends that these useful instruments are immoral, or work by divine inspiration. As arithmetic has grown easier, it has come to be less respected. The consequence is that, though many philosophers continue to tell us what fine fellows we are, it is no longer on account of our arithmetical skill that they praise us.” (Pg. 72)

He continues, “When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy… condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God. For … lightning is sent by God to punish impiety or some other grave sin---the virtuous are never struck by lightning… But God was equal to the occasion, if we are to believe the eminent Dr. Price, one of the leading divines of Boston… Massachusetts was shaken by earthquakes, which Dr. Price perceived as due to God’s wrath… Apparently, however, Providence gave up all hope of curing Boston of its wickedness, for, though lightning-rods become more and more common, earthquakes in Massachusetts have remained rare.” (Pg. 74)

He goes on, “Venereal disease is [supposedly] God’s punishment for sin. It is true that, through a guilty husband, this punishment may fall on an innocent woman and her children, but this is a mysterious dispensation of Providence which it would be impious to question. We must also not inquire why venereal disease was not divinely instituted until the time of Columbus.” (Pg. 79)

He asserts, “Sin consists in disobedience to God’s commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, then nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobey His commands, He must have intended this to happen… But most theologians, in modern times, have felt that, if God causes men to sin, it is not fair to send them to hell for what they cannot help… IF everything happens in accordance with God’s will, God must have wanted Nero to murder his mother; therefore, since God is good, the murder must have been a good thing. From this argument there is no escape.” (Pg. 81)

He observes, “To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind are prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not free from ALL error, but from silly error. If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew… Ancient and medieval authors knew all about unicorns and salamanders; not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them because he had never seen one of them.”
(Pg. 103)

In “Ideas that Have Helped Mankind,” he states, “We have also become… progressively less like animals… As to happiness, I am not so sure… We suffer not only the evils that actually befall us, but all those that our intelligence tells us we have reason to fear. The curbing of impulses to which we are led by forethought averts physical disaster at the cost of worry, and general lack of joy. I do not think that the learned men of my acquaintance, even when they enjoy a secure income, are as happy as the mice who eat the crumbs from their tables while the erudite gentlemen snooze. In this respect, therefore, I am not convinced that there has been any progress at all.” (Pg. 125)

He continues, “Man, viewed morally, is a strange amalgam of angel and devil. He can feel the splendor of the night, the delicate beauty of spring flowers, the tender emotion of parental love, and the intoxication of intellectual understanding…. Universal love is an emotion which many have felt… This is one side of the picture. On the other side are cruelty, greed, indifference, and overweening pride… We know what the Nazis did to the Jews at Auschwitz. In mass cruelty, the expulsions of Germans ordered by the Russians fall not very short of the atrocities perpetuated by the Nazis. And how about our noble selves? We would not do such deeds, oh no! But we enjoy our juicy steaks and our hot rolls while German children die of hunger because our governments dare not face our indignation if they asked us to forego some part of our pleasures. If there were a Last Judgment as Christians believe, how do you think our excuses would sound before that final tribunal?” (Pg. 135)

In “Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind,” he contends, “Male domination has had some very unfortunate effects. It made one of the most intimate of human relations, that of marriage, one of master and slave, instead of one between equal partners… By the seclusion which it forced upon respectable women it made them dull and uninteresting; the only women who could be interesting and adventurous were social outcasts… All this has more or less ended in civilized countries, but it will be a long time before either men or women learn to adapt their behavior completely to the new state of affairs.” (Pg. 158-159)

This is an excellent and provocative selection of Russell’s “later” and less explicitly “political” essays.

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Unpopular Essays 12 Adventures in Argument by the Winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature Unknown Binding

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