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Bertrand Russell Quotes about Philosophy - Page 2

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(on A History of Western Philosophy) I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without a bias

(on A History of Western Philosophy) I was sometimes accused by reviewers of writing not a true history but a biased account of the events that I arbitrarily chose to write of. But to my mind, a man without a bias cannot write interesting history - if, indeed, such man exists.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Writing, Men
Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.465, Routledge

I hold all knowledge that is concerned with things that actually exist - all that is commonly called Science - to be of very slight value compared to the knowledge which, like philosophy and mathematics, is concerned with ideal and eternal objects, and is freed from this miserable world which God has made.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Knowledge, World
Bertrand Russell (2009). “Autobiography”, p.149, Routledge

On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other hand to keep us modestly aware of how much that seems like knowledge isn't knowledge

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Thinking, Hands
Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Addiction, Progress
Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.28, Psychology Press

Ever since men became capable of free speculation, their actions, in innumerable important respects, have depended upon their theories as to the world and human life, as to what is good and what is evil. This is true in the present day as at any former time. To understand an age or a nation, we must understand its philosophy, and to understand its philosophy we must ourselves be in some degree philosophers. There is here a reciprocal causation: the circumstances of men s lives do much to determine their philosophy, but, conversely, their philosophy does much to determine their circumstances.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Men, Evil
"History of Western Philosophy".

There will still be things that machines cannot do. They will not produce great art or great literature or great philosophy; they will not be able to discover the secret springs of happiness in the human heart; they will know nothing of love and friendship.

Bertrand Russell
Love, Art, Philosophy

While the dogmatist is harmful, the sceptic is useless ...; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or of ignorance. Knowledge is not so precise a concept as is commonly thought. Instead of saying 'I know this', we ought to say 'I more or less know something more or less like this'. ... Knowledge in practical affairs has not the certainty or the precision of arithmetic.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Ignorance, Knowledge

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Wish, Philosopher
Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Problems of Philosophy”, p.24, Bertrand Russell

We may say, in a broad way, that Greek philosophy down to Aristotle expresses the mentality appropriate to the City State; that Stoicism is appropriate to a cosmopolitan despotism; that stochastic philosophy is an intellectual expression of the Church as an organization; that philosophy since Descartes, or at any rate since Locke, tends to embody the prejudices of the commercial middle class; and that Marxism and Fascism are the philosophies appropriate to the modern industrial state.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Expression, Class

Philosophy arises from an unusually obstinate attempt to arrive at real knowledge. What passes for knowledge in ordinary life suffers from three defects: it is cocksure, vague and self-contradictory. The first step towards philosophy consists in becoming aware of these defects, not in order to rest content with a lazy scepticism, but in order to substitute an amended kind of knowledge which shall be tentative, precise and self-consistent.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Real, Self
Bertrand Russell (2009). “An Outline of Philosophy”, p.2, Routledge

Philosophy is an unusually ingenious attempt to think fallaciously.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Thinking, Ingenious
Bertrand Russell, John Greer Slater, Peter Köllner (1996). “A Fresh Look at Empiricism: 1927-42”, p.336, Psychology Press

Protagoras did not know if the gods exist, but he held in any case they ought to be worshiped. Philosophy, according to him, had nothing edifying to teach, and for the survival of morals we must rely upon the thoughtlessness of the majority and their willingness to believe what they had been taught.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Believe, Rely Upon
Bertrand Russell, Robert Edward Egner (1961). “The basic writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”

Ethical metaphysics is fundamentally an attempt, however disguised, to give legislative force to our own wishes.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Giving, Wish
Bertrand Russell (2015). “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays”, p.97, Booklassic

The philosophies that have been inspired by scientific technique are power philosophies, and tend to regard everything non-human as mere raw material. Ends are no longer considered; only the skillfulness of the process is valued. This also is a form of madness. It is, in our day, the most dangerous form, and the one against which a sane philosophy should provide an antidote

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Technique, Raw Materials

Science is what we know, and philosophy is what we don't know.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Knowledge, Science
Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.378, Psychology Press

It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true

Bertrand Russell
Atheist, Philosophy, Believe
Sceptical Essays (1928) "On the Value of Scepticism"

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Ignorance, Knowing
Bertrand Russell (1996). “Unpopular Essays”, p.38, Psychology Press

The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Men, Animal
Bertrand Russell (2016). “Mysticism and Logic”, p.28, Bertrand Russell

Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, May, Philosopher

Philosophy is that part of science which at present people chose to have opinions about, but which they have no knowledge about. Therefore every advance in knowledge robs philosophy of some problems which formerly it had ...and will belong to science.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Knowledge, Science
Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism”, p.124, Routledge

Philosophy, for Plato, is a kind of vision, the 'vision of truth'...Everyone who has done any kind of creative work has experienced, in a greater or less degree, the state of mind in which, after long labour, truth or beauty appears, or seems to appear, in a sudden glory - it may only be about some small matter, or it may be about the universe. I think that most of the best creative work, in art, in science, in literature, and in philosophy, has been a result of just such a moment.

Bertrand Russell
Art, Plato, Philosophy

In the first place a philosophical proposition must be general. It must not deal specially with things on the surface of the earth, or within the solar system, or with any other portion of space and time. . . . This brings us to a second characteristic of philosophical propositions, namely that they must be a priori. A philosophical proposition must be such as can neither be proved nor disproved by empirical evidence. . . . Philosophy, if what has been said is correct, becomes indistinguishable from logic as that word has now come to be used.

Bertrand Russell
Time, Philosophy, Philosophical

The essence of education is that it is a change effected in the organism to satisfy the operator.

Bertrand Russell
Art, Philosophy, Essence

Any philosophy worth taking seriously would have to be built upon a firm foundation of unyielding despair.

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Despair, Foundation

Philosophy bakes no bread

Bertrand Russell
Philosophy, Bread

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