Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born atRavenscroft, a country house inTrellech, Monmouthshire,[a] on 18 May 1872, into an influential and liberal family of theBritish aristocracy.[19][20] His parents wereViscount andViscountess Amberley. Lord Amberley consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor,[21][22] the biologistDouglas Spalding. Both were early advocates ofbirth control at a time when this was considered scandalous.[23] Lord Amberley, adeist, asked the philosopherJohn Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather.[24] Mill died the year after Russell's birth, but his writings later influenced Russell's life.
Russell had two siblings: brotherFrank (seven years older), and sister Rachel (four years older). In June 1874 Russell's mother died ofdiphtheria, followed shortly by Rachel's death. In January 1876, his father died ofbronchitis[30] after a long period ofdepression.[31]: 14 Frank and Bertrand were placed in the care of paternal grandparents, who lived atPembroke Lodge inRichmond Park. His grandfather, former Prime MinisterEarl Russell, died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kind old man in a wheelchair. His grandmother, theCountess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the central family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth.[16][23] The Countess was from a ScottishPresbyterian family and petitioned theCourt of Chancery to set aside a provision in Amberley's will requiring the children to be raised as agnostics. Despite her religious conservatism, she held progressive views in other areas (acceptingDarwinism and supportingIrish Home Rule), and her influence on Bertrand Russell's outlook onsocial justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life.
Russell's adolescence was lonely and he contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that his interests in "nature and books and (later) mathematics saved me from complete despondency;"[32] only his wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide.[33] He was educated at home by a series of tutors.[34] When Russell was eleven, his brother Frank introduced him to the work ofEuclid, which he described in his autobiography as "one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love".[35][36]
During these formative years, he also discovered the works ofPercy Bysshe Shelley. Russell wrote: "I spent all my spare time reading him, and learning him by heart, knowing no one to whom I could speak of what I thought or felt, I used to reflect how wonderful it would have been to know Shelley, and to wonder whether I should meet any live human being with whom I should feel so much sympathy."[37] Russell said that beginning at age 15, he spent considerable time thinking about the validity ofChristian religious dogma, which he found unconvincing.[38] At this age, he came to the conclusion that there is nofree will and, two years later, that there is no life after death. Finally, at the age of 18, after reading Mill'sAutobiography, he abandoned the "First Cause" argument and became anatheist.[39][40]
Russell began his published work in 1896 withGerman Social Democracy, a study in politics that was an early indication of his interest in political and social theory. In 1896 he taught German social democracy at theLondon School of Economics.[45] He was a member of theCoefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by theFabian campaignersSidney andBeatrice Webb.[46]
At the age of 29, in February 1901, Russell underwent what he called a "sort of mystic illumination", after witnessingWhitehead's wife's suffering in anangina attack. "I found myself filled with semi-mystical feelings about beauty and with a desire almost as profound as that of theBuddha to find some philosophy which should make human life endurable", Russell would later recall. "At the end of those five minutes, I had become a completely different person."[49]
In 1910, he became a lecturer at theUniversity of Cambridge, Trinity College, where he had studied. He was considered for a fellowship, which would give him a vote in the college government and protect him from being fired for his opinions, but was passed over because he was "anti-clerical", because he was agnostic. He was approached by the Austrian engineering studentLudwig Wittgenstein, who started undergraduate study with him. Russell viewed Wittgenstein as a successor who would continue his work on logic. He spent hours dealing with Wittgenstein's variousphobias and his bouts of despair. This was a drain on Russell's energy, but Russell continued to be fascinated by him and encouraged his academic development, including the publication of Wittgenstein'sTractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1922.[51] Russell delivered his lectures onlogical atomism, his version of these ideas, in 1918, before the end ofWorld War I.
DuringWorld War I, Russell was one of the few people to engage in activepacifist activities. In 1916, due to his absence of allegiance to the war effort, he was dismissed from Trinity College following his conviction under theDefence of the Realm Act 1914.[53] He later described this, inFree Thought and Official Propaganda, as an illegitimate means the state used to violate freedom of expression. Russell championed the case ofEric Chappelow, a poet jailed and abused as a conscientious objector.[54] Russell played a part in theLeeds Convention in June 1917, a historic event which saw well over a thousand "anti-war socialists" gather; many being delegates from theIndependent Labour Party and the Socialist Party, united in their pacifist beliefs and advocating a peace settlement.[55] The international press reported that Russell appeared with a number of LabourMembers of Parliament (MPs), includingRamsay MacDonald andPhilip Snowden, as well as formerLiberal MP and anti-conscription campaigner, ProfessorArnold Lupton. After the event, Russell toldLady Ottoline Morrell that, "to my surprise, when I got up to speak, I was given the greatest ovation that was possible to give anybody".[56][57]
His conviction in 1916 resulted in Russell being fined £100 (equivalent to £7,100 in 2023), which he refused to pay in the hope that he would be sent to prison, but his books were sold at auction to raise the money. The books were bought by friends; he later treasured his copy of theKing James Bible that was stamped "Confiscated by Cambridge Police".
A later conviction for publicly lecturing against inviting the United States to enter the war on the United Kingdom's side resulted in six months' imprisonment inBrixton Prison (seeBertrand Russell's political views) in 1918 (he was prosecuted under theDefence of the Realm Act).[58][59] He later said of his imprisonment:
I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, "Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy"... and began the work for "The Analysis of Mind". I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence as was shown by their having been caught.[60]
While he was readingStrachey'sEminent Victorians chapter aboutGordon he laughed out loud in his cell prompting the warder to intervene and reminding him that "prison was a place of punishment".[61]
Russell was reinstated to Trinity in 1919, resigned in 1920, was Tarner Lecturer in 1926 and became a Fellow again in 1944 until 1949.[62]
In 1924, Russell again gained press attention when attending a "banquet" in theHouse of Commons with well-known campaigners, includingArnold Lupton, who had been anMP and had also endured imprisonment for "passive resistance to military or naval service".[63]
In 1941,G. H. Hardy wrote a 61-page pamphlet titledBertrand Russell and Trinity (published later as a book byCambridge University Press with a foreword byC. D. Broad) in which he gave an authoritative account of Russell's 1916 dismissal from Trinity College, explaining that a reconciliation between the college and Russell had later taken place and gave details about Russell's personal life. Hardy writes that Russell's dismissal had created a scandal since the vast majority of the Fellows of the College opposed the decision. The ensuing pressure from the Fellows induced the Council to reinstate Russell. In January 1920, it was announced that Russell had accepted the reinstatement offer from Trinity and would begin lecturing in October. In July 1920, Russell applied for a one-year leave of absence; this was approved. He spent the year giving lectures in China and Japan. In January 1921, it was announced by Trinity that Russell had resigned and his resignation had been accepted. This resignation, Hardy explains, was voluntary and was not the result of another altercation.
The reason for the resignation, according to Hardy, was that Russell was going through a tumultuous time in his personal life with a divorce and subsequent remarriage. Russell contemplated asking Trinity for another one-year leave of absence but decided against it since this would have been an "unusual application" and the situation had the potential to snowball into another controversy. Although Russell did the right thing, in Hardy's opinion, the reputation of the College suffered with Russell's resignation since the 'world of learning' knew about Russell's altercation with Trinity but not that the rift had healed. In 1925, Russell was asked by the Council of Trinity College to give theTarner Lectures on the Philosophy of the Sciences; these would later be the basis for one of Russell's best-received books according to Hardy:The Analysis of Matter, published in 1927.[64] In the preface to the Trinity pamphlet, Hardy wrote:
I wish to make it plain that Russell himself is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for the writing of the pamphlet.... I wrote it without his knowledge and, when I sent him the typescript and asked for his permission to print it, I suggested that, unless it contained misstatement of fact, he should make no comment on it. He agreed to this... no word has been changed as the result of any suggestion from him.[65]
In August 1920, Russell travelled toSoviet Russia as part of an official delegation sent by the British government to investigate the effects of theRussian Revolution.[66] He wrote a four-part series of articles, titled "Soviet Russia—1920", for the magazineThe Nation.[67][68] He metVladimir Lenin and had an hour-long conversation with him. In his autobiography, he mentions that he found Lenin disappointing, sensing an "impish cruelty" in him and comparing him to "an opinionated professor". He cruised down theVolga on a steamship. His experiences destroyed his previous tentative support for the revolution. He subsequently wrote a book,The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism,[69] about his experiences on this trip, taken with a group of 24 others from the UK, all of whom came home thinking well of the Soviet regime,[citation needed] despite Russell's attempts to change their minds. For example, he told them that he had heard shots fired in the middle of the night and was sure that these were clandestine executions, but the others maintained that it was only cars backfiring.[citation needed]
Russell's loverDora Black, a British author,feminist and socialist campaigner, visited Soviet Russia independently at the same time; in contrast to his reaction, she was enthusiastic about theBolshevik revolution.[69]
The following year, Russell, accompanied by Dora, visitedPeking (Beijing) to lecture on philosophy for a year.[34] He went with optimism and hope, seeing China asthen being on a new path.[70] Other scholars present in China at the time includedJohn Dewey[71] andRabindranath Tagore, the Indian Nobel-laureate poet.[34] Before leaving China, Russell became gravely ill withpneumonia, andincorrect reports of his death were published in the Japanese press.[71] When the couple visited Japan on their return journey, Dora took on the role of spurning the local press by handing out notices reading "Mr. Bertrand Russell, having died according to the Japanese press, is unable to give interviews to Japanese journalists".[72][73] Apparently they found this harsh and reacted resentfully.[citation needed][74][75] Russell supported his family during this time by writing popular books explaining matters ofphysics, ethics, and education to the layman.
Bertrand Russell in 1924
From 1922 to 1927 the Russells divided their time between London andCornwall, spending summers inPorthcurno.[76] In the1922 and1923 general elections Russell stood as aLabour Party candidate in theChelsea constituency, but only on the basis that he knew he was unlikely to be elected in such a safe Conservative seat, and he was unsuccessful on both occasions.
After the birth of his two children, he became interested in education, especiallyearly childhood education. He was not satisfied with the oldtraditional education and thought thatprogressive education also had some flaws;[77] as a result, together with Dora, Russell founded the experimental Beacon Hill School in 1927. The school was run from a succession of different locations, including its original premises at the Russells' residence, Telegraph House, nearHarting, West Sussex. During this time, he publishedOn Education, Especially in Early Childhood. On 8 July 1930, Dora gave birth to her third child Harriet Ruth. After he left the school in 1932, Dora continued it until 1943.[78][79]
In 1927 Russell metBarry Fox (later Barry Stevens), who became a knownGestalt therapist and writer in her later years.[80] They developed an intense relationship, and in Fox's words: "...for three years we were very close."[81] Fox sent her daughter Judith to Beacon Hill School.[82] From 1927 to 1932 Russell wrote 34 letters to Fox.[83] Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became the 3rdEarl Russell.
Russell's marriage to Dora grew tenuous, and it reached a breaking point over her having two children with an American journalist, Griffin Barry.[79] They separated in 1932 and finally divorced. On 18 January 1936, Russell married his third wife, anOxford undergraduate namedPatricia ("Peter") Spence, who had been his children's governess since 1930. Russell and Peter had one son,Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell, who became a historian and one of the leading figures in theLiberal Democrat party.[16]
Russell returned in 1937 to theLondon School of Economics to lecture on the science of power.[45] During the 1930s, Russell became a friend and collaborator ofV. K. Krishna Menon, then President of theIndia League, the foremost lobby in the United Kingdom for Indian independence.[13] Russell chaired the India League from 1932 to 1939.[84]
Russell's political views changed over time, mostly about war. He opposed rearmament againstNazi Germany. In 1937, he wrote in a personal letter: "If the Germans succeed in sending an invading army to England we should do best to treat them as visitors, give them quarters and invite the commander and chief to dine with the prime minister."[85] In 1940, he changed hisappeasement view that avoiding a full-scale world war was more important than defeating Hitler. He concluded that Adolf Hitler taking over all of Europe would be a permanent threat to democracy. In 1943, he adopted a stance toward large-scale warfare called "relative political pacifism": "War was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances, it may be the lesser of two evils."[86][87]
Before World War II, Russell taught at theUniversity of Chicago, later moving on to Los Angeles to lecture at theUCLA Department of Philosophy.[88] He was appointed professor at theCity College of New York (CCNY) in 1940, but after a public outcry the appointment was annulled by a court judgment that pronounced him "morally unfit" to teach at the college because of his opinions, especially those relating tosexual morality, detailed inMarriage and Morals (1929). The matter was taken to theNew York Supreme Court byJean Kay who was afraid that her daughter would be harmed by the appointment, though her daughter was not a student at CCNY.[88][89] Many intellectuals, led byJohn Dewey, protested at his treatment.[90]Albert Einstein's oft-quoted aphorism that "great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" originated in his open letter, dated 19 March 1940, toMorris Raphael Cohen, a professor emeritus at CCNY, supporting Russell's appointment.[91] Dewey andHorace M. Kallen edited a collection of articles on the CCNY affair inThe Bertrand Russell Case. Russell soon joined theBarnes Foundation, lecturing to a varied audience on thehistory of philosophy; these lectures formed the basis ofA History of Western Philosophy. His relationship with the eccentricAlbert C. Barnes soon soured, and he returned to the UK in 1944 to rejoin the faculty of Trinity College.[92]
Russell participated in many broadcasts over theBBC, particularlyThe Brains Trust and for theThird Programme, on various topical and philosophical subjects. By this time Russell was known outside academic circles, frequently the subject or author of magazine and newspaper articles, and was called upon to offer opinions on a variety of subjects, even mundane ones. En route to one of his lectures inTrondheim, Russell was one of 24 survivors (out of 43 passengers) of anaeroplane crash in Hommelvik in October 1948. He said he owed his life to smoking since the people who drowned were in the non-smoking part of the plane.[93][94]A History of Western Philosophy (1945) became a best-seller and provided Russell with a steady income for the remainder of his life.
In 1942, Russell argued in favour of a moderatesocialism, capable of overcoming its metaphysical principles. In an inquiry ondialectical materialism, launched by the Austrian artist and philosopherWolfgang Paalen in his journalDYN, Russell said: "I think the metaphysics of bothHegel andMarx plain nonsense—Marx's claim to be 'science' is no more justified thanMary Baker Eddy's. This does not mean that I am opposed to socialism."[95]
In 1943, Russell expressed support forZionism: "I have come gradually to see that, in a dangerous and largely hostile world, it is essential to Jews to have some country which is theirs, some region where they are not suspected aliens, some state which embodies what is distinctive in their culture".[96]
In a speech in 1948, Russell said that if theUSSR's aggression continued, it would be morally worse to go to war after the USSR possessed anatomic bomb than before it possessed one, because if the USSR had no bomb the West's victory would come more swiftly and with fewer casualties than if there were atomic bombs on both sides.[97][98] At that time, only the United States possessed an atomic bomb, and the USSR was pursuing an aggressive policy towards the countries in Eastern Europe which were being absorbed into the Soviet Union'ssphere of influence. Many understood Russell's comments to mean that Russell approved of afirst strike in a war with the USSR, includingNigel Lawson, who was present when Russell spoke of such matters. Others, includingGriffin, who obtained a transcript of the speech, have argued that he was explaining the usefulness of America's atomic arsenal in deterring the USSR from continuing its domination of Eastern Europe.[93]
Just after theatomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Russell wrote letters, and published articles in newspapers from 1945 to 1948, stating clearly that it was morally justified and better to go to war against the USSR using atomic bombs while the United States possessed them and before the USSR did.[99] In September 1949, one week after the USSR tested its first A-bomb, but before this became known, Russell wrote that the USSR would be unable to develop nuclear weapons because following Stalin's purges only science based on Marxist principles would be practised in the Soviet Union.[100] After it became known that the USSR had carried outits nuclear bomb tests, Russell declared his position advocating the total abolition of atomic weapons.[99]
In 1948, Russell was invited by the BBC to deliver the inauguralReith Lectures[101]—what was to become an annual series of lectures, still broadcast by the BBC. His series of six broadcasts, titledAuthority and the Individual,[102] explored themes such as the role of individual initiative in the development of a community and the role of state control in a progressive society. Russell continued to write about philosophy. He wrote a foreword toWords and Things byErnest Gellner, which was highly critical of thelater thought ofLudwig Wittgenstein and ofordinary language philosophy.Gilbert Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journalMind, which caused Russell to respond viaThe Times. The result was a month-long correspondence inThe Times between the supporters and detractors of ordinary language philosophy, which was ended when the paper published an editorial critical of both sides but agreeing with the opponents of ordinary language philosophy.[103]
In the King'sBirthday Honours of 9 June 1949, Russell was awarded theOrder of Merit,[104] and the following year he was awarded theNobel Prize in Literature.[16][34] When he was given the Order of Merit,George VI was affable but embarrassed at decorating a former jailbird, saying, "You have sometimes behaved in a manner that would not do if generally adopted".[105] Russell merely smiled, but afterwards claimed that the reply "That's right, just like yourbrother" immediately came to mind.
In 1950, Russell attended the inaugural conference for theCongress for Cultural Freedom, aCIA-funded anti-communist organisation committed to the deployment of culture as a weapon during theCold War.[106] Russell was one of the known patrons of the Congress until he resigned in 1956.[106]
In 1952, Russell was divorced by Spence, with whom he had been very unhappy.[citation needed] Conrad, Russell's son by Spence, did not see his father between the time of the divorce and 1968 (at which time his decision to meet his father caused a permanent breach with his mother). Russell married his fourth wife,Edith Finch, soon after the divorce, on 15 December 1952. They had known each other since 1925, and Edith had taught English atBryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, sharing a house for 20 years with Russell's old friendLucy Donnelly. Edith remained with him until his death, and, by all accounts, their marriage was a happy, close, and loving one. Russell's eldest son John suffered frommental illness, which was the source of ongoing disputes between Russell and his former wife Dora.[citation needed]
In 1962 Russell played a public role in theCuban Missile Crisis: in an exchange of telegrams with Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev assured him that the Soviet government would not be reckless.[107][108] Russell sent this telegram toPresident Kennedy:
YOUR ACTION DESPERATE. THREAT TO HUMAN SURVIVAL. NO CONCEIVABLE JUSTIFICATION. CIVILIZED MAN CONDEMNS IT. WE WILL NOT HAVE MASS MURDER. ULTIMATUM MEANS WAR... END THIS MADNESS.[109]
According to historian Peter Knight, after JFK'sassassination, Russell, "prompted by the emerging work of the lawyerMark Lane in the US ... rallied support from other noteworthy and left-leaning compatriots to form a 'Who Killed Kennedy committee' in June 1964, members of which includedMichael Foot MP,Caroline Benn(wife ofTony Benn MP), the publisherVictor Gollancz, the writersJohn Arden andJ. B. Priestley, and the Oxford history professorHugh Trevor-Roper." Russell published a highly critical article inThe Minority of One weeks before theWarren Commission report was published, setting forth16 Questions on the Assassination.[110][111] Russell equated theOswald case with theDreyfus affair of late 19th-century France, in which the state convicted an innocent man. Russell also criticised the American press for failing to heed any voices critical of the official version.[112]
Bertrand Russell was opposed to war from a young age; his opposition to World War I was used as grounds for his dismissal from Trinity College at Cambridge. This incident fused two of his controversial causes, as he had failed to be granted fellow status which would have protected him from firing, because he was not willing to either pretend to be a devout Christian, or at least avoid admitting he was agnostic.
He later described the resolution of these issues as essential to freedom of thought and expression, citing the incident inFree Thought and Official Propaganda, where he explained that the expression of any idea, even the most obviously "bad", must be protected not only from direct State intervention but also economic leveraging and other means of being silenced:
The opinions which are still persecuted strike the majority as so monstrous and immoral that the general principle of toleration cannot be held to apply to them. But this is exactly the same view as that which made possible the tortures of theInquisition.[113]
Russell spent the 1950s and 1960s engaged in political causes primarily related tonuclear disarmament and opposing theVietnam War. The 1955Russell–Einstein Manifesto was a document calling for nuclear disarmament and was signed by eleven of the most prominent nuclear physicists and intellectuals of the time.[114] In October 1960 "The Committee of 100" was formed with a declaration by Russell andMichael Scott, entitled "Act or Perish", which called for a "movement of nonviolent resistance to nuclear war and weapons of mass destruction".[115] In September 1961, at the age of 89, Russell was jailed for seven days inBrixton Prison for a "breach of the peace" after taking part inan anti-nuclear demonstration in London. The magistrate offered to exempt him from jail if he pledged himself to "good behaviour", to which Russell replied: "No, I won't."[116][117]
From 1966 to 1967, Russell worked withJean-Paul Sartre and many other intellectual figures to form theRussell Vietnam War Crimes Tribunal to investigate the conduct of the United States in Vietnam. He wrote many letters to world leaders during this period.
Early in his life, Russell supportedeugenicist policies. In 1894, he proposed that the state issue certificates of health to prospective parents and withhold public benefits from those considered unfit.[118] In 1929, he wrote that people deemed "mentally defective" and "feebleminded" should be sexually sterilised because they "are apt to have enormous numbers of illegitimate children, all, as a rule, wholly useless to the community."[119] Russell was also an advocate ofpopulation control:[120][121]
The nations which at present increase rapidly should be encouraged to adopt the methods by which, in the West, the increase of population has been checked. Educational propaganda, with government help, could achieve this result in a generation. There are, however, two powerful forces opposed to such a policy: one is religion, the other is nationalism. I think it is the duty of all to proclaim that opposition to the spread of birth is appalling depth of misery and degradation, and that within another fifty years or so. I do not pretend thatbirth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others, which, one must suppose, opponents of birth control would prefer. War, as I remarked a moment ago, has hitherto been disappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If aBlack Death could be spread throughout the whole world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full.
On 20 November 1948, in a public speech atWestminster School, addressing a gathering arranged by the New Commonwealth, Russell shocked some observers by suggesting that a preemptive nuclear strike on theSoviet Union was justified. Russell argued that war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed inevitable, so it would be a humanitarian gesture to get it over with quickly and have the United States in the dominant position. Currently, Russell argued, humanity could survive such a war, whereas a fullnuclear war after both sides had manufactured large stockpiles of more destructive weapons was likely to result in theextinction of thehuman race. Russell later relented from this stance, instead arguing for mutual disarmament by the nuclear powers.
In 1956, before and during theSuez Crisis, Russell expressed his opposition to European imperialism in the Middle East. He viewed the crisis as another reminder of the pressing need for an effective mechanism for international governance, and to restrict national sovereignty in places such as theSuez Canal area "where general interest is involved". At the same time the Suez Crisis was taking place, the world was also captivated by theHungarian Revolution and the subsequent crushing of the revolt by intervening Soviet forces. Russell attracted criticism for speaking out fervently against the Suez war while ignoring Soviet repression in Hungary, to which he responded that he did not criticise the Soviets "because there was no need. Most of the so-called Western World was fulminating". Although he later feigned a lack of concern, at the time he was disgusted by the brutal Soviet response, and on 16 November 1956, he expressed approval for a declaration of support for Hungarian scholars whichMichael Polanyi had cabled to the Soviet embassy in London twelve days previously, shortly after Soviet troops had enteredBudapest.[122]
In November 1957 Russell wrote an article addressing US PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev, urging a summit to consider "the conditions of co-existence". Khrushchev responded that peace could be served by such a meeting. In January 1958 Russell elaborated his views inThe Observer, proposing a cessation of all nuclear weapons production, with the UK taking the first step by unilaterally suspending its own nuclear weapons programme if necessary, and with Germany "freed from all alien armed forces and pledged to neutrality in any conflict between East and West". US Secretary of StateJohn Foster Dulles replied for Eisenhower. The exchange of letters was published asThe Vital Letters of Russell, Khrushchev, and Dulles.[123]
Russell was asked byThe New Republic, a liberal American magazine, to elaborate his views on world peace. He urged that all nuclear weapons testing and flights by planes armed with nuclear weapons be halted immediately, and negotiations be opened for the destruction of allhydrogen bombs, with the number of conventional nuclear devices limited to ensure a balance of power. He proposed that Germany be reunified and accept theOder-Neisse line as its border, and that a neutral zone be established in Central Europe, consisting at the minimum of Germany, Poland, Hungary, andCzechoslovakia, with each of these countries being free of foreign troops and influence, and prohibited from forming alliances with countries outside the zone. In the Middle East, Russell suggested that the West avoid opposingArab nationalism, and proposed the creation of a United Nations peacekeeping force to guard Israel's frontiers to ensure that Israel was prevented from committing aggression and protected from it. He also suggested Western recognition of thePeople's Republic of China, and that it be admitted to the UN with a permanent seat on theUN Security Council.[123]
He was in contact withLionel Rogosin while the latter was filming his anti-war filmGood Times, Wonderful Times in the 1960s. He became a hero to many of the youthful members of theNew Left. In early 1963, Russell became increasingly vocal in his disapproval of the Vietnam War, and felt that the US government's policies there were near-genocidal. In 1963, he became the inaugural recipient of theJerusalem Prize, an award for writers concerned with the freedom of the individual in society.[124] In 1964, he was one of eleven world figures who issued an appeal to Israel and theArab countries to accept anarms embargo and international supervision ofnuclear plants and rocket weaponry.[125] In October 1965, he tore up hisLabour Party card because he suspectedHarold Wilson's Labour government was going to send troops to support the United States in Vietnam.[16]
In June 1955, Russell had leased Plas Penrhyn inPenrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, Wales and on 5 July of the following year it became his and Edith's principal residence.[126]
Russell published his three-volume autobiography in 1967, 1968, and 1969. He made acameo appearance playing himself in the anti-warHindi filmAman, byMohan Kumar, which was released in India in 1967. This was Russell's only appearance in a feature film.[127]
On 23 November 1969, he wrote toThe Times newspaper saying that the preparation for show trials in Czechoslovakia was "highly alarming". The same month, he appealed to Secretary GeneralU Thant of the United Nations to support an international war crimes commission to investigate alleged torture and genocide by the United States inSouth Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The following month, he protested toAlexei Kosygin over the expulsion ofAleksandr Solzhenitsyn from theSoviet Union of Writers.
On 31 January 1970, Russell issued a statement condemning "Israel's aggression in the Middle East", and in particular, Israeli bombing raids being carried out deep in Egyptian territory as part of theWar of Attrition, which he compared to German bombing raids in theBattle of Britain and the US bombing of Vietnam. He called for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-Six-Day War borders, stating "The aggression committed by Israel must be condemned, not only because no state has the right to annexe foreign territory, but because every expansion is an experiment to discover how much more aggression the world will tolerate."[128] This was Russell's final political statement or act. It was read out at the International Conference of Parliamentarians inCairo on 3 February 1970, the day after his death.[129]
Russell died ofinfluenza, just after 8 pm on 2 February 1970 at his home in Penrhyndeudraeth, aged 97.[130] His body was cremated inColwyn Bay on 5 February 1970 with five people present.[131] In accordance with his will, there was no religious ceremony but one minute's silence; his ashes were later scattered over the Welsh mountains.[132] Although he was born inMonmouthshire, and died inPenrhyndeudraeth in Wales, Russell identified as English.[133][134][135] Later in 1970, on 23 October, his will was published showing he had left an estate valued at £69,423 (equivalent to £1.4 million in 2023).[132] In 1980, a memorial to Russell was commissioned by a committee including the philosopherA. J. Ayer. It consists of a bust of Russell inRed Lion Square in London sculpted by Marcelle Quinton.[136]
Lady Katharine Jane Tait, Russell's daughter, founded the Bertrand Russell Society in 1974 to preserve and understand his work. It publishes theBertrand Russell Society Bulletin, holds meetings and awards prizes for scholarship, including the Bertrand Russell Society Award.[137][138] She also authored several essays about her father; as well as a book,My Father, Bertrand Russell, which was published in 1975.[139] All members receiveRussell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies.
In 1889, Russell, at 17 years of age, met the family ofAlys Pearsall Smith, an AmericanQuaker five years his senior, who was a graduate ofBryn Mawr College nearPhiladelphia.[143][31]: 37 He became a friend of the Pearsall Smith family. They knew him as "Lord John's grandson" and enjoyed showing him off.[31]: 48
He fell in love with Alys, and contrary to his grandmother's wishes, married her on 13 December 1894. Their marriage began to fall apart in 1901 when it occurred to Russell, while cycling, that he no longer loved her.[144] She asked him if he loved her, and he cruelly replied that he did not. Russell also disliked Alys's mother, finding her controlling and cruel. A lengthy period of separation began in 1911 with Russell's affair withLady Ottoline Morrell,[145] and he and Alys finally divorced in 1921 to enable Russell to remarry.[146]
During his years of separation from Alys, Russell had affairs (often simultaneous) with a number of women, including Morrell and the actressLady Constance Malleson.[147] Some have suggested that at this point he had an affair withVivienne Haigh-Wood, the English governess and writer, and first wife ofT. S. Eliot.[148]
In 1921, his second marriage was to Dora Winifred Black MBE (died 1986), daughter of Sir Frederick Black. Dora was six months pregnant when the couple returned to England.
This was dissolved in 1935, having produced two children:
Lady Katharine Jane Russell (1923–2021), who married Rev. Charles Tait in 1948 andhad issue
Additionally, Russell was temporarily registered as the birth father of Dora Russell’s daughter, Harriett Ruth Barry (1930-2024), but this was reversed at some point and Harriett’s father was correctly registered as American journalist Griffin Barry. Dora Russell also gave birth to a son by Griffin Barry in 1932, Roderick Barry (1932-1983). Though the Russell marriage was an open one, the Barry children’s births led to a dissolution of the marriage and Russell divorced Dora. Russell did continue to be involved in both Barry children’s lives, though not closely.[citation needed]
Russell's third marriage was to his student Patricia Helen Spence (d. 2004) in 1936, with the marriage producing one child:
Russell's third marriage ended in divorce in 1952. He married Edith Finch in the same year. They remained married at the time of his death in 1972; Finch died in 1978.[149]
Upon his brother's death in 1931, Russell became the 3rdEarl Russell ofKingston Russell, and the subsidiary title of Viscount Amberley of Amberley and of Ardsalla.[150] He held both titles, and the accompanying seat in the House of Lords, until his death in 1970.
On ethics, Russell wrote that he was autilitarian in his youth, yet he later distanced himself from this view.[154]
For the advancement of science and protection of liberty of expression, Russell advocatedThe Will to Doubt, the recognition that all human knowledge is at most a best guess, that one should always remember:
None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error. The methods of increasing the degree of truth in our beliefs are well known; they consist in hearing all sides, trying to ascertain all the relevant facts, controlling our own bias by discussion with people who have the opposite bias, and cultivating a readiness to discard any hypothesis which has proved inadequate. These methods are practised in science, and have built up the body of scientific knowledge.Every man of science whose outlook is truly scientific is ready to admit that what passes for scientific knowledge at the moment is sure to require correction with the progress of discovery; nevertheless, it is near enough to the truth to serve for most practical purposes, though not for all. In science, where alone something approximating to genuine knowledge is to be found, men's attitude is tentative and full of doubt.[113]
Russell described himself in 1947 as an agnostic or anatheist: he found it difficult to determine which term to adopt, saying:
Therefore, in regard to theOlympic gods, speaking to a purely philosophical audience, I would say that I am an Agnostic. But speaking popularly, I think that all of us would say in regard to those gods that we were Atheists. In regard to theChristian God, I should, I think, take exactly the same line.[155]
For most of his adult life, Russell maintained religion to be little more thansuperstition and, despite any positive effects, largely harmful to people. He believed that religion and the religious outlook serve to impede knowledge and foster fear and dependency, and to be responsible for much of our world's wars, oppression, and misery. He was a member of the advisory council of theBritish Humanist Association[156] and the president of Cardiff Humanists until his death.[157]
Political and social activism occupied much of Russell's time for most of his life. Russell remained politically active almost to the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his name to various causes. He was a prominent campaigner against Western intervention into theVietnam War in the 1960s, writing essays and books, attending demonstrations, and even organising theRussell Tribunal in 1966 alongside other prominent philosophers such asJean-Paul Sartre andSimone de Beauvoir, which fed into his 1967 bookWar Crimes in Vietnam.[158]
Russell argued for a "scientific society", where war would be abolished, population growth would be limited, and prosperity would be shared.[159] He suggested the establishment of a "single supreme world government" able to enforce peace,[160] claiming that "the only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation".[161] He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting aworld constitution.[162][163] As a result, for the first time in human history, aWorld Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt theConstitution for the Federation of Earth.[164]
Russell also expressed support forguild socialism, and commented positively on several socialist thinkers and activists.[165] According toJean Bricmont and Normand Baillargeon, "Russell was both aliberal and asocialist, a combination that was perfectly comprehensible in his time, but which has become almost unthinkable today. He was a liberal in that he opposed concentrations of power in all its manifestations, military, governmental, or religious, as well as the superstitious or nationalist ideas that usually serve as its justification. But he was also a socialist, even as an extension of his liberalism, because he was equally opposed to the concentrations of power stemming from theprivate ownership of the majormeans of production, which therefore needed to be put under social control (which does not mean state control)."[166]
Russell was an active supporter of theHomosexual Law Reform Society, being one of the signatories ofA. E. Dyson's 1958 letter toThe Times calling for a change in the law regarding male homosexual practices, which were partly legalised in 1967, when Russell was still alive.[167]
He expressed sympathy and support for thePalestinian people and was critical ofIsrael's actions. He wrote in 1960 that, "I think it was a mistake to establish a Jewish State in Palestine, but it would be a still greater mistake to try to get rid of it now that it exists."[168] In his final written document, read aloud inCairo three days after his death on 31 January 1970, he condemned Israel as an aggressiveimperialist power, which "wishes to consolidate with the least difficulty what it has already taken by violence. Every new conquest becomes the new basis of the proposed negotiation from strength, which ignores the injustice of the previous aggression." In regards to the Palestinian people andrefugees, he wrote that, "No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate? A permanent just settlement of the refugees in their homeland is an essential ingredient of any genuine settlement in theMiddle East."[169]
Russell advocated for auniversal basic income. In his 1918 bookRoads to Freedom, Russell wrote that "Anarchism has the advantage as regards liberty, Socialism as regards the inducement to work. Can we not find a method of combining these two advantages? It seems to me that we can. [...] Stated in more familiar terms, the plan we are advocating amounts essentially to this: that a certain small income, sufficient for necessaries, should be secured to all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income – as much larger as might be warranted by the total amount of commodities produced – should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful...When education is finished, no one should be compelled to work, and those who choose not to work should receive a bare livelihood and be left completely free."[170]
In "Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday" ("Postscript" in hisAutobiography), Russell wrote: "I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken".[171]
Russell supported freedom of opinion and was an opponent of both censorship and indoctrination. In 1928, he wrote:
The fundamental argument for freedom of opinion is the doubtfulness of all our belief... when the State intervenes to ensure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favour of that doctrine ... It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions make it impossible to make a living.[172]
In 1957, he wrote: "'Free thought' means thinking freely ... to be worthy of the name freethinker he must be free of two things: the force of tradition and the tyranny of his own passions."[173]
Russell has presented ideas on the possible means of control of education in case of scientific dictatorship governments, of the kind of this excerpt taken from Chapter II "General Effects of Scientific Technique" of "The Impact of Science on society":[174]
This subject will make great strides when it is taken up by scientists under a scientific dictatorship. Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black, but no one believed him. The social psychologists of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. Various results will soon be arrived at. First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark grey. Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician's paradise. The social effects of scientific technique have already been many and important, and are likely to be even more noteworthy in the future. Some of these effects depend upon the political and economic character of the country concerned; others are inevitable, whatever this character may be.
He pushed his visionary scenarios even further into details, in Chapter III "Scientific Technique in an Oligarchy" of the same book,[175] stating as an example:
In future such failures are not likely to occur where there is dictatorship. Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell them that they are so.
1935.Religion and Science. London: Thornton Butterworth
1936.Which Way to Peace?. London: Jonathan Cape
1937.The Amberley Papers: The Letters and Diaries of Lord and Lady Amberley, with Patricia Russell, 2 vols., London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press; reprinted (1966) asThe Amberley Papers. Bertrand Russell's Family Background, 2 vols., London: George Allen & Unwin
1940.An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.[200]
1945.The Bomb and Civilisation. Published in theGlasgow Forward on 18 August 1945
1946.A History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day[201] New York: Simon and Schuster
1948.Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. London: George Allen & Unwin
1949.Authority and the Individual.[202] London: George Allen & Unwin
1950.Unpopular Essays.[203] London: George Allen & Unwin
1951.The Impact of Science on Society. London: George Allen & Unwin
1951–1969.The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell,[204] 3 vols., London: George Allen & Unwin. Vol. 2, 1956
1952.New Hopes for a Changing World. London: George Allen & Unwin
1953.Satan in the Suburbs and Other Stories. London: George Allen & Unwin
1954.Nightmares of Eminent Persons and Other Stories.[205] London: George Allen & Unwin
1954.Human Society in Ethics and Politics. London: George Allen & Unwin
1956.Portraits from Memory and Other Essays.[206] London: George Allen & Unwin
1956.Logic and Knowledge: Essays 1901–1950, edited by Robert C. Marsh. London: George Allen & Unwin
1957.Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, edited by Paul Edwards. London: George Allen & Unwin
1957.Understanding History and Other Essays. New York: Philosophical Library (reprint of earlier essays)
1958.The Will to Doubt. New York: Philosophical Library (reprint of earlier essays)
1959.Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare.[207] London: George Allen & Unwin
1959.Wisdom of the West: A Historical Survey of Western Philosophy in Its Social and Political Setting, edited by Paul Foulkes. London: Macdonald
1960.Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind, Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Company
1961.The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, edited by R. E. Egner and L. E. Denonn. London: George Allen & Unwin
1961.Fact and Fiction. London: George Allen & Unwin
1961.Has Man a Future? London: George Allen & Unwin
1963.Essays in Skepticism. New York: Philosophical Library (reprint of earlier essays)
1963.Unarmed Victory. London: George Allen & Unwin
1965.Legitimacy Versus Industrialism, 1814–1848. London: George Allen & Unwin (first published as Parts I and II ofFreedom and Organization, 1814–1914, 1934)
1965.On the Philosophy of Science, edited by Charles A. Fritz, Jr. Indianapolis: The Bobbs–Merrill Company
1967.War Crimes in Vietnam. London: George Allen & Unwin
1969.Dear Bertrand Russell... A Selection of his Correspondence with the General Public 1950–1968, edited by Barry Feinberg and Ronald Kasrils. London: George Allen and Unwin
Russell was the author of more than sixty books and over two thousand articles.[209][210] Additionally, he wrote many pamphlets, introductions, and letters to the editor. One pamphlet titled,'I Appeal unto Caesar': The Case of the Conscientious Objectors, ghostwritten for Margaret Hobhouse, the mother of imprisoned peace activistStephen Hobhouse, allegedly helped secure the release from prison of hundreds ofconscientious objectors.[211]
His works can be found in anthologies and collections, includingThe Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, whichMcMaster University began publishing in 1983. By March 2017, this collection of his shorter and previously unpublished works included 18 volumes,[212] and several more are in progress. A bibliography in three additional volumes catalogues his publications. The Russell Archives held by McMaster'sWilliam Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections possess over 40,000 of his letters.[213]
Argent, a lion rampant gules, on a chief sable, three escallops of the field, over the centre escallop a mullet.
Supporters
Dexter, a lion gules; sinister, an heraldic antelope gules, armed, unguled, tufted, ducally gorged and chained, the chain reflexed over the back or; each supporter charged on the shoulder with a mullet argent.
Logicomix, a graphic novel about the foundational quest in mathematics, the narrator of the story being Bertrand Russell and with his life as the main storyline
^Russell and G. E. Moore broke themselves free fromBritish Idealism which, for nearly 90 years, had been dominatingBritish philosophy. Russell would later recall that "with a sense of escaping from prison, we allowed ourselves to think that grass is green, that the sun and stars would exist if no one was aware of them..."[9]
This articlehas an unclearcitation style. The reason given is:Citation styles are inconsistent, a mix of CS1, plain text, and minimally-formatted links, sometimes with webarchive templates. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style ofcitation andfootnoting.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
^Wettstein, Howard, "Frege-Russell Semantics?",Dialectica44(1–2), 1990, pp. 113–135, esp. 115: "Russell maintains that when one is acquainted with something, say, a present sense datum or oneself, one can refer to it without the mediation of anything like a Fregean sense. One can refer to it, as we might say,directly."
^Rempel, Richard (1979). "From Imperialism to Free Trade: Couturat, Halevy and Russell's First Crusade".Journal of the History of Ideas.40 (3). University of Pennsylvania Press:423–443.doi:10.2307/2709246.JSTOR2709246.
^abNasta, Susheila, ed. (2013).India in Britain: South Asian Networks and Connections, 1858–1950. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-230-39271-7.OCLC802321049.
^Samoiloff, Louise Cripps.C .L. R. James: Memories and Commentaries, p. 19. Associated University Presses, 1997.ISBN0-8453-4865-5
^Russell, Bertrand (October 1946)."Atomic Weapon and the Prevention of War".Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2/7–8, (1 October 1946). p. 20.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved24 August 2017.
^G. E. Cokayne; Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, eds. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed. 13 volumes in 14. 1910–1959. Reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000.
^O'Connor, J. J.; Robertson, E. F. (October 2003)."Alfred North Whitehead". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved8 November 2007.
^Bertrand Russell (1998). "6: Principia Mathematica".Autobiography. Psychology Press.ISBN978-0-415-18985-9.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved7 January 2016.
^Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1974).British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press.ISBN9781349022984.
^Cyril Pearce (2004), "'Typical' Conscientious Objectors — A Better Class of Conscience? No-Conscription Fellowship image management and the Manchester contribution 1916–1918",Manchester Region History Review, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 38
^Vellacott, Jo (1980).Bertrand Russell and the Pacifists in the First World War. Brighton: Harvester Press.ISBN0-85527-454-9.
^Bertrand Russell (1998). "8: The First War".Autobiography. Psychology Press. p. 256.ISBN978-0-415-18985-9.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved7 January 2016.
^The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell by Bertrand Russell,Nicholas Griffin 2002, letter to Gladys Rinder in May 1918
^"Trinity in Literature".Trinity College Cambridge. Trinity College.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved3 August 2017.
^G. H. Hardy (1970).Bertrand Russell and Trinity. pp. 57–8.
^Hardy, G.H. (1942).Bertrand Russell & Trinity: A college controversy of the last war. Cambridge University Press. p. vii.ISBN978-0-521-11392-2.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Full text
^Russell, Bertrand (31 July 1920). "Soviet Russia—1920".The Nation. pp. 121–125.
^Russell, Bertrand (20 February 2008) [1920]."Lenin, Trotzky and Gorky".The Nation.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved20 August 2016.
^Russell, Bertrand (2000). "Uncertain Paths to Freedom: Russia and China, 1919–22". In Rempel, Richard A. (ed.).The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Vol. 15. Routledge. lxviii.ISBN0-415-09411-9.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved3 October 2020.
^Russell, Bertrand (1998). "10: China".Autobiography. Psychology Press.ISBN978-0-415-18985-9.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved7 January 2016.It provided me with the pleasure of reading my obituary notices, which I had always desired without expecting my wishes to be fulfilled... As the Japanese papers had refused to contradict the news of my death, Dora gave each of them a type-written slip saying that as I was dead I could not be interviewed
^Stevens, B. (1970):Don't Push the River. Lafayette, Cal. (Real People Press), p. 26.
^Gorham, D. (2005): "Dora and Bertrand Russell and Beacon Hill School", in:Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, n.s. 25, (summer 2005), p. 39–76, p. 57.
^Spadoni, C. (1981): "Recent Acquisitions: Correspondence", in:Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, Vol 1, Iss. 1, Article 6, 43–67.
^Nasta, Susheila."India League".Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved16 June 2020.
^Russell, Bertrand, "The Future of Pacifism", The American Scholar, (1943) 13: 7–13.
^Bertrand Russell (1998). "12: Later Years of Telegraph House".Autobiography. Psychology Press.ISBN978-0-415-18985-9.Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved7 January 2016.I found the Nazis utterly revolting – cruel, bigoted, and stupid. Morally and intellectually they were alike odious to me. Although I clung to my pacifist convictions, I did so with increasing difficulty. When, in 1940, England was threatened with invasion, I realised that, throughout the First War, I had never seriously envisaged the possibility of utter defeat. I found this possibility unbearable, and at last consciously and definitely decided that I must support what was necessary for victory in the Second War, however difficult victory might be to achieve, and however painful in its consequences
^Russell to Edward Renouf, assistant ofWolfgang Paalen, 23 March 1942 (Succession Wolfgang Paalen, Berlin); this letter is cited inDYN, No. 2, Mexico, July–August 1942, p. 52.
^He wrote: "There is reason to think Stalin will insist on a new orthodoxy in atomic physics, since there is much in quantum theory that runs contrary to Communist dogma. An atomic bomb' made on Marxist principles would probably not explode because, after all, Marxist science was that of a hundred years ago. For those who fear the military power of Russia there is, therefore, some reason to rejoice in the muzzling of Russian science." Russell, Bertrand "Stalin Declares War on Science" Review of Langdon-Davies,Russia Puts Back the Clock,Evening Standard (London), 7 September 1949, p. 9.
^Moran, Margaret (31 December 1991). "Bertrand Russell Meets His Muse: the Impact of Lady Ottoline Morrell (1911-12)".Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies.11 (2). Project MUSE.doi:10.15173/russell.v11i2.1807 (inactive 1 July 2025).ISSN1913-8032.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
^"Bertrand Russell".plato.stanford.edu. 1995.Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved6 April 2024.
^Blanshard, inPaul Arthur Schilpp, ed.,The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard, Open Court, 1980, p. 88, quoting a private letter from Russell.
^The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, London: Routledge, 2000 [London: Allen and Unwin, 1969, Vol. 1], p. 39 ("It appeared to me obvious that the happiness of mankind should be the aim of all action, and I discovered to my surprise that there were those who thought otherwise. Belief in happiness, I found, was called Utilitarianism, and was merely one among a number of ethical theories. I adhered to it after this discovery, and was rash enough to tell my grandmother that I was a utilitarian." In a letter from 1902, in which Russell criticised utilitarianism, he wrote: "I may as well begin by confessing that for many years it seemed to me perfectly self-evident that pleasure is the only good and pain the only evil. Now, however, the opposite seems to me self-evident. This change has been brought about by what I may call moral experience." Ibid, p. 161).
^Russell, Bertrand (1947)."Am I An Atheist or an Agnostic?".Encyclopedia of Things. Archived fromthe original on 22 June 2005. Retrieved6 July 2005.: "I never know whether I should say 'Agnostic' or whether I should say 'Atheist'.... As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one prove (sic) that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist."
^Russell, Bertrand (1968).The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1944–1969. Little, Brown. p. 330. Published separately as 'Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday' inPortraits from Memory.
Elizabeth Ramsden Eames.Bertrand Russell's Theory of Knowledge, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1969.OCLC488496910. A clear description of Russell's philosophical development.
Celia Green.The Lost Cause: Causation and the Mind-Body Problem, Oxford: Oxford Forum, 2003.ISBN0-9536772-1-4 Contains a sympathetic analysis of Russell's views oncausality.
A. C. Grayling.Russell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2002.
Nicholas Griffin.Russell's Idealist Apprenticeship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
A. D. Irvine, ed.Bertrand Russell: Critical Assessments, 4 volumes, London: Routledge, 1999. Consists of essays on Russell's work by many distinguished philosophers.
Michael K. Potter.Bertrand Russell's Ethics, Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2006. A clear and accessible explanation of Russell's moral philosophy.
Paul Arthur Schilpp, ed.The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, Evanston and Chicago: Northwestern University, 1944.
John Slater.Bertrand Russell, Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1994.
Ray Monk.Bertrand Russell: Mathematics: Dreams and Nightmares, London: Phoenix, 1997,ISBN0-7538-0190-6
Ray Monk.Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, 1872–1920 Vol. I, New York: Routledge, 1997,ISBN0-09-973131-2
Ray Monk.Bertrand Russell: The Ghost of Madness, 1921–1970 Vol. II, New York: Routledge, 2001,ISBN0-09-927275-X
Caroline Moorehead.Bertrand Russell: A Life, New York: Viking, 1993,ISBN0-670-85008-X
George Santayana. "Bertrand Russell", inSelected Writings of George Santayana, Norman Henfrey (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, I, 1968, pp. 326–329
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