bertrand russell.doc

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS[2] (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a Britishphilosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic.[3] At various points in his life he considered himself aliberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these in any profound sense.[4] He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.[5]Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 20th century.[6] He is considered one of the founders ofanalytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians.[3] He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy".[7] His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science (seetype theory and type system), and philosophy, especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed anti-imperialism[8][9] and went to prison for his pacifism duringWorld War I.[10] Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the involvement of the United States of America in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.[11] In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."[12]Early life and background[edit]Young Bertrand RussellBertrand Russell was born on 18 May 1872 at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire, into an influential and liberal family of the British aristocracy.[13] His parents, Viscount and Viscountess Amberley, were radical for their times. Lord Amberley consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor, the biologist Douglas Spalding. Both were early advocates of birth control at a time when this was considered scandalous.[14] Lord Amberley was an atheist and his atheism was evident when he asked the philosopher John Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather.[15] Mill died the year after Russell's birth, but his writings had a great effect on Russell's life.His paternal grandfather, the Earl Russell, had twice been asked by Queen Victoria to form a government, serving her as Prime Minister in the 1840s and 1860s.[16] The Russells had been prominent in England for several centuries before this, coming to power and the peerage with the rise of the Tudor dynasty. They established themselves as one of Britain's leading Whig families, and participated in every great political event from the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536–40 to the Glorious Revolution in 1688–89 and the Great Reform Act in 1832.[16][17]Lady Amberley was the daughter of Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley.[11] Russell often feared the ridicule of his maternal grandmother,[18]one of the campaigners for education of women.[19]Childhood and adolescence[edit]Russell had two siblings: Frank (nearly seven years older than Bertrand), and Rachel (four years older). In June 1874 Russell's mother died of diphtheria, followed shortly by Rachel's death. In January 1876, his father died of bronchitis following a long period of depression. Frank and Bertrand were placed in the care of their staunchly Victorian paternal grandparents, who lived at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. His grandfather, former Prime Minister John Russell, died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kindly old man in a wheelchair. His grandmother, the Countess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the dominant family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth.[11][14]Pembroke Lodge, Russell's childhood home.The countess was from a Scottish Presbyterian family, and successfully petitioned the Court 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 (accepting Darwinism and supporting Irish Home Rule), and her influence on Bertrand Russell's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life (one could challenge this view that Bertrand stood up for his principles, based on Bertrand Russell's own well-known quote: "I would never die for my beliefs, I could be wrong.") —her favourite Bible verse, 'Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil' (Exodus 23:2), became his motto. The atmosphere at Pembroke Lodge was one of frequent prayer, emotional repression, and formality; Frank reacted to this with open rebellion, but the young Bertrand learned to hide his feelings.Russell's adolescence was very lonely, and h。