the life of Bertrand Arthur william russell
Bertrand Arthur william russell (1872-197) was a famous bourgeois thinker and social activist in the 2th century, with more than 4 works and more papers or other articles. His achievements in many aspects have profoundly influenced western philosophy.
Lonely Childhood
On May 18th, 1872, Russell was born into a noble family in Trelleke, Monmouth, England. His grandfather, Earl john russell, served as Prime Minister twice and was the leader who fought for the passage of the English Reform Act in 1832. Russell's mother died when he was two years old, and his father and sister died about a year later. Grandparents voluntarily assumed the responsibility of raising children. Russell's grandmother has liberal political views and often teaches Russell to reflect on his thoughts and behaviors. Grandmother was a devout Puritan, and Russell was oppressed by strict and simple family education. He bathed in cold water every morning, and adults never gave fruit or drank beer. Therefore, Russell was introverted in his youth. He was not sent to school, and was taken care of by foreign nannies and tutors from childhood, learning German, French and Italian. Russell's grandfather has an extremely rich library. He often hides in it and absorbs knowledge of literature, history, geography and so on. He has the habit of being diligent in thinking, which is undoubtedly influenced by his grandmother. By his own admission, since he was five years old, he felt bored and often walked alone in the garden, and sometimes he had suicidal thoughts because of boredom. Russell's childhood life provided a neural factor and primitive soil for his withdrawn, arrogant, suspicious and changeable personality and the formation of his unique dependent thoughts.
when Russell was 11 years old, he studied Euclidean geometry with his brother. At that time, he could only accept the definition, but doubted the reliability of axioms. This doubt determines the style and goal of Russell's philosophical career, that is, to explore the certainty and doubt of "how much and how much we can know" in a skeptical and cautious style.
In October, 189, Russell was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge University, thus entering the educational garden with fresh air and active thoughts. However, the teacher had little influence on him, but his interaction with his classmates benefited him a lot. Soon, he got acquainted with the famous figures of the school, such as Whitehead, Moore, Mactaggart and economist Keynes, and soon he became the most popular one among them. In the third school year, although Russell passed the degree examination with excellent results, he vowed never to study mathematics that only pays attention to skills and ignores the proof of basic theories, and instead studied philosophy. He is determined to establish a philosophical system like Hegel and devote himself to the cause of philosophy.
When Russell graduated from University, he was convinced of the philosophy of Hegel and Kant. In 1893, he wrote a thesis on mathematical philosophy, On the Basis of Geometry, in an attempt to mend Kant's theory that the space-time form is a priori comprehensive judgment. This qualified him as a researcher at Cambridge University.
At that time, Germany's mathematical theory was very advanced, and a fundamental change was brewing. When Russell thoroughly mastered these theories, he gave up his long-admired idealism and turned to realism, determined to seek a correct mathematical theory.
In July p>19, I met Pi Nuo, the founder of symbolic logic. After reading Pi Nuo's works, Russell felt that many questions were suddenly answered. In October of the same year, he and Whitehead co-wrote Principles of Mathematics, which was published in three volumes in 191, 1911 and 1912. This book is epoch-making in the history of logical development. Since then, logic has become independent from philosophy. Later, German universities classified mathematical logic into the Department of Mathematics. All this proves Russell's special position.
Russell found that in the process of people trying to lay a theoretical foundation for mathematics with logic, a basic concept "general category" which is often used to explain other concepts is self-contradictory, so he established the theory of "paradox", also known as "Russell paradox". In order to prove the "Russell Paradox", many mathematicians and logicians put forward various theoretical schemes, but none of them can explain it. Russell himself also interrupted the writing of Principles of Mathematics to make further research. Later, he put forward "type theory" to explain this phenomenon. "type theory" has a great influence, which makes mathematicians realize the importance of some words and semantic research, and also breeds Russell's other philosophical thought, that is, the principle of logical atomism.
Russell's basic argument of logical atomism is that the world is made up of some simple special facts, and they only have simple nature and simple relationship with each other, so the way to understand the essence of anything or theme is to analyze until there is no more "logical atom". Logical atoms are not small particles of matter, but the so-called ideas that make up things. Russell's theory has a great influence on the Vienna School in the mid-192s and the logic semantics in the 193s.
Russell's "neutral monism" is more important in his philosophical thought. The material that makes up the world is neither a pure heart nor a pure thing, nor a binary opposition between heart and thing, but something that is neither heart nor thing and takes a neutral attitude towards heart and thing. This neutral thing sometimes refers to events, and sometimes to senses and materials. This "world material" is the most primitive thing that constitutes the mind. These views are embodied in his two books, Analysis of Things and Analysis of Mind, which were completed in 1921.
Russell has always been keen on the discussion of political theory and actively participated in various political activities. As early as 1895, after his first marriage, he traveled to the European continent with his wife. He studied the economy and the democracy of German society, and praised the Manifesto of the Producer Party and the three volumes Das Kapital as great masterpieces with great literary talent. At that time, he had contacts with bebel and liebknecht, leaders of the Social Democratic Party and Marxists. During the First World War, he actively engaged in anti-war activities. He joined the Association against Conscription, delivered a series of speeches calling for peace, and gave sincere help to those who refused to take part in the criminal war. In 1916, he was fined 1 pounds for writing anti-war leaflets. Because of his refusal to pay, the court auctioned his books at Cambridge University as collateral. Subsequently, Trinity College also dismissed his teaching post. In 1918, he wrote an editorial for an anti-war newspaper and was imprisoned for six months for "insulting the Allies". In view of his reputation, he was sentenced to write and study in a small room in Brixton prison. After the war, Russell visited the Soviet Union and met with Lenin, Trotsky and Gorky. He expressed sympathy for the goals of the * * * bourgeois beliefs, but also expressed concern about the political and social life style of the Soviet Union. In August 192, Russell visited China. He has always sympathized with the oppressed people. In Ying Bu War, he sided with the Boers, so he was extremely isolated from the British aristocracy. < P > In p>1934, his Freedom and Courage: 1814 ~ 1914 came out, in which he expounded his political thoughts in detail and systematically, and put forward that politics, economy and historical figures are three important aspects of social and political history. In 1938, he wrote "Power" and advocated the realization of "taming power law" to limit the power desire of some politicians.
With the rise of Hitler, Russell opposed the Nazi way, but he also opposed any steps that led to war. His attitude changed in 1939, thinking that "the war against Nazi is necessary". In 1949, he was elected as an academician of the British Academy of Sciences, and in 195, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
after the 195s, Russell became a heroic soldier defending peace. In 1953, the United States tested a hydrogen bomb, which changed his political views. He advocated that he would rather live under dictatorship than fight a war, which showed his concern about future wars. In December, 1954, Russell delivered a radio speech on "The Danger Facing Mankind" in the BBC, severely condemning the bikini hydrogen bomb test. At the beginning of 1955, the famous Russell-Einstein nuclear ban statement signed by scientists from all over the world was drafted and published. In 1961, 89-year-old Mrs Russell took part in a demonstration in London to oppose the US government's development of nuclear weapons. Later, during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, he urged the US-Soviet leaders to hold high-level talks to avoid war.
Russell was not a * * * producer. Until Stalin died in 1953, he did not relax his criticism of the Soviet Union. Later, the attitude eased. However, during the Vietnam War, he provided funds to organize mock judgments on American leaders' war crimes. The war court, presided over by Sartre and Aitke Deutscher, opened in Stockholm in May 1967, and filed a detailed public prosecution on the activities of the American army. In 1968, when the Soviet Union invaded the Czech Republic, Russell protested strongly. As an international peace fighter, he has become a banner for leftist students and the masses in many western countries.
Russell's four marriages are full of legends.
In December p>1894, after graduating from Cambridge University, Russell married a beautiful American girl, Alice, who was five years older than Russell and came from an American civilian family. This marriage aroused the strong opposition of his aristocratic family. They used various means to prevent this unsuitable combination, including arranging Russell to work in the British Embassy in Paris, in order to achieve the purpose of separating young couples. But Russell broke through many obstacles and resolutely held a wedding without a family member, and went to Germany and Italy for their honeymoon. This marriage lasted from 1894 to the second marriage, and there were several love experiences, including having an affair with gorgeous Mrs. Autolane Morrel, Mrs. constance Malleson and the famous actor Colet O 'Neill.
In September p>1921, Russell returned to England from China and formally divorced Alice after ten years' separation. A week later, they married Dora. In 1927, they rented a villa of their brother and set up "Beacon Hill Primary School" to practice his educational philosophy of "tolerance". Because the financial source only depended on Russell's manuscript fee and the prejudice of local public opinion, the primary school ended in failure. In 1935, he divorced Dora and left beacon hill primary school, which was maintained by Dora until 194.
In p>1931, due to the death of his brother, Russell became the third Earl of Russell, and then she entered the church for the third time, holding him by Betty, the secretary.
From the age of 8, Russell began to write novels. It was because of his writing that at the end of 1952, Russell divorced his third wife, Betty, and married an English biographer, Eddis Finch. This was his fourth and last marriage.
Russell's marriage in his later years was quiet and comfortable. His first wife, Alice, has been loyal and caring for Russell for more than 5 years. After Russell received the Medal of Honor, she wrote a warm congratulatory letter to Russell and prepared to organize Russell's 78th birthday. However, when she was hopeful to see Russell again, she unfortunately broke her leg on the stairs and died a week later. Her wish to meet Russell was not realized.
Russell was thin and had black hair when he was young. In middle age, he became thinner, with bright eyes, slight smile, white hair and a philosopher image, giving people a cold and kind feeling.
Russell is a gentle and even shy person. As a friend, partner and conversationalist, he is pleasant.
Russell is very humorous. After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, Russell, who had never written a literary work, began to write novels. The first novel was published anonymously in 1951, and a reward was offered to guess who the author was. As a result, no one guessed it, because no one would believe that this famous philosopher, who was nearly 8 years old, still had the pleasure of writing novels.
On February 2, 197, Earl Russell died at his home in Wales at the age of 98. His life has been full of twists and turns, so that people have mixed comments on him. But he is indeed a man who has greatly influenced the century. Russell described the motivation of his long, exciting and complicated life as follows: "Three simple but extremely strong emotions dominate my life: the desire for love, the pursuit of knowledge and deep sympathy for human suffering." He also said that there is only one emotion, that is, the desire for love is completely satisfied. He was 8 years old when he got married for the fourth time.
on February 2, 197, Russell died in his hometown of Wales.
Second, Bertrand Arthur william russell's literary history:
In the book Recalling the Past (1956), Russell pointed out: "A style of writing is not good unless it is a direct and almost unconscious expression of a writer's personality, and at the same time this personality is worth showing." After some exploration, he chose his own style of writing, which requires that he should first draw a conclusion through his thinking before writing the conclusion directly and naturally. He asserted: "In my opinion, Flaubert and Pate are the best to be forgotten." This way of writing, which is embodied in the personality obviously worth expressing, makes Russell's works have literary value, rather than a general expression of philosophical thoughts. Although his professional works are not easy for untrained readers to accept, his same sharp style of writing obviously runs through all his works. Of course, George Santayana thinks that the only truly valuable works of Russell are the most abstract ones. Although Santayana disagreed with the literary value of Russell's works, most critics praised Russell's prose for its simplicity and smoothness.
In the broad field of vision of Russell's thesis, there are many topics that are conventional enough to make him a Nobel Prize in Literature winner. He is not only a mathematical philosopher, a scholar who studies metaphysics and epistemology, an economic critic and an interpreter of modern science, but also a moral philosopher and teacher, a philosopher of history, religion and language, and a satirist of the persistent stupidity of human beings-and all these are enough to make his mature literary career.
Many of Russell's expositions on moral arguments-some of which were first written in the 192s-seem outdated today. However, it is easy to understand why they angered so many moralists when they appeared. He denounced people's cruel nature in a state of religious belief and sexual ignorance, which sounded like the latest enlightener to lash out at superstition and ignorance, but Russell was at the same time as the English literary aristocracy with many similar radical ideas.