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Great minds asking WHY?, Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell, awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature, is one of the great minds of the 20th Century. He was a “British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science and various areas of analytic philosophy, especially philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.” – Wikipedia.
In one of his famous works, he wrote a book called “The Problems of Philosophy” in 1912, where he postulates asking questions/why? is the foundation of philosophy.
“Philosophy, if it cannot answer so many questions as we could wish, has at least the power of asking questions which increase the interest of the world, and show the strangeness and wonder lying just below the surface even in the commonest things of daily life.”
It underscores the importance and power of questioning WHY? in the world around us.
Wow, that falls right in the wheelhouse of MLTs “Jump Ship”, and “WHY?”
Bertrand Russell also was a catalyst for another great mind of the 20th century, John Lennon, as pointed out here by Paul McCartney who met Bertrand Russell. Paul asks “Can music change the world?” You bet ya!
Mona and Lisa are great minds of the 21st Century writing amazing songs that can change the world.
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8 Replies
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A message to future generations from Bertrand Russell.
Oh “Summer Rain”.
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Hi Jung,
Thanks for posting about my hero Bertrand Russell. As a struggling grad student in Philosophy, I appreciated Bertrand Russell above all other philosophers I was reading for the simple fact that he was willing to change his mind and willing to admit that he had changed his mind. So many bent over backwards to avoid the possibility that their argument might not be correct. Russell was humble enough to acknowledge that Philosophy was an ongoing process of exploration. No doubt it tarnished his reputation in the field, where admission of uncertainty is a sign of weakness.
He’s also amazing for his continued intellectual growth throughout his long life. Had he retired in 1920 he would have already made major contributions to the Philosophy of Language and for influencing his student, Ludwig Wittgenstein who, coincidentally, also hailed from Austria. Instead, he went on, as shown in the videos, to be a social thinker and critic, writing on pacifism, religion, and the human condition.
As an aside, one of my most cherished possessions is an autographed book of his from his earlier, more hardcore, philosophical days.
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Hi David, I’m really glad I was able to come across Bertrand Russell, who happens to be your hero too. I always found philosophy a fascinating field and one I’d like to make some more time to read up on, including Bertrand Russell. My wife was reading Bertrand Russell’s book “The Problems With Philosophy” the other day and when she explained the book to me, the concept of asking why as being the foundation of philosophy really resonated with me in light of MLT’s WHY? and found it really fascinating. Marcus Aurelius is another philosopher I learned about a little I found fascinating around stoicism and fate and resiliency, and Plato too and some others around the Enlightenment like Kant, Descartes. That’s really cool you have a Bertrand Russell book signed by him, that is very precious. Thanks for sharing more insight about Bertrand Russell. It’s amazing his ideals had an impact on the Beatles activism on world peace and love, especially John Lennon. That 2nd video about his message to the future generations is really moving and impactful. I can see how Bertrand Russell resonated with Paul and John in songs like All You Need Is Love, Give Peace A Chance, Imagine etc…
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Oh boy, Jung. Tough stuff. „Why?“, I’m going to take the question a little bit further than Mona and Lisa did: Whole generations of brilliant thinkers have grappled with this question. At this point I could quote the ancient Greek masterminds, if I had read them. I could refer to the brilliant philosophers and thinkers of our time, if I had understood them. Or also pioneering psychologists and epistemologists, if I only had the time. To make a long story short: two thinkers of the very special kind have particularly impressed me with their answer to the big „Why” question: First, Stephen Hawking. He has concluded in the sense that the answer to the big question about the origin of the universe and thus also about the sense of the whole which hangs on it, would hold ready a quite simple solution if we could approach with our understanding only near enough to the origin of the big bang. Second, Douglas Adams: He had an endearing and quirky way of presenting complex issues simply. If we ever found the answer to the big question “Why?” we would not be able to understand the answer because we did not actually grasp the essence of the question (and thus could not formulate it correctly). Well, the answer 42 does sound somehow reassuring: short enough not to be forgotten and yet not so complex as to be confusing.
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Hi Jurgen
That is a hilarious video! I think the answer to why is not something that can be expressed in words, but in music, painting, and literature, in art. It’s just like I don’t think words can adequately explain “love” completely either. I like Bertrand Russell’s idea that the hunger for why, that curious and inquisitive mind some how makes the world more interesting and full of awe and wonder lurking under the surface, and maybe takes you closer to the truth.
I’ve heard about Stephen Hawkings and been meaning to watch a movie about him on Netflix, and not familiar with Douglas Adams, will check him out on Wikipedia. Thanks for mentioning them.
This all reminds me of the the X-Files, “the truth is out there”.
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I don’t know much about Russell, but I love his teapot analogy regarding the burden of proof for existential claims.
Essentially he said: suppose I claim that there is a teapot orbiting the Sun between Earth and Mars, too small to be seen by telescopes. Does it make more sense for you to accept that it’s true since you can’t disprove it, or to demand evidence of the teapot before you believe it?
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David, yeah I like that analogy of the teapot. It also goes along with his message to the future generations, “ask yourself only what are the facts, and what is the truth the facts bear out.”
Basically consider the facts and think for yourself and not be mislead by the status quo accepted “truth”. Look under the veil.
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Hi David,
unfortunately I don’t know the quote. Reminds me a little bit of Schrödinger’s cat dilemma. You can only be sure if you look. But that doesn’t work in this case. A dilemma indeed. Probably the bread and butter of most theoretical physicists. Therefore, I would first consider the person making such a hypothesis. Who is this person, where does he get his knowledge from and how does he even get the idea that a teapot rotates between Earth and Mars. If I then still had doubts, I would rely on empiricism or reject the idea. I am aware that with this approach, around 50% of astrophysicists would probably lose their jobs…. 😀. I added the following idea to my first entry as a PS (and then deleted it again, because I wasn’t sure if the idea would be misunderstood): „It’s hard to tell the color and shape of a chair cushion when you’re sitting with your butt on it“. So to say, it is not the teapot that causes the problem, but the human being who tries to find an answer with his limited possibilities. Would you rather know or believe? A matter of personal taste.
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