Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell 1957

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (born May 18, 1872 in Trellech , Monmouthshire , Wales , †  February 2, 1970 in Penrhyndeudraeth , Gwynedd , Wales) was a British philosopher , mathematician and logician . He also taught at Trinity College of Cambridge University , the London School of Economics , of Harvard University and the Peking University and was a member of the Cambridge Apostles . In 1950 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature .

Russell is considered one of the fathers of analytical philosophy . He wrote a variety of works on philosophical, mathematical and social topics. Together with Alfred North Whitehead he published the Principia Mathematica , one of the most important works of the 20th century on the fundamentals of mathematics. Russell was an atheist and a rationalist . As a world-renowned activist for peace and disarmament, he was a leading figure in pacifism , even if he was not a strict pacifist himself. He was open to socialist ideas.

Life

Childhood and youth

Bertrand Russell's parents, Viscount and Viscountess Amberley (1867)

Bertrand Russell was born into a family of the English aristocracy . His grandfather, John Russell , who was bestowed the title of Earl Russell in 1861 , was British Prime Minister. Bertrand Russell's father, John Russell, Viscount Amberley , died when Bertrand was three years old. The mother Katherine Louisa Stanley , who also comes from a noble family, died of diphtheria even earlier, 18 months before her husband, as did Bertrand's sister Rachel Lucretia Russell . The entire Russell family belonged to the liberal Whigs , but Bertrand Russell's parents were radical in their attitudes even for this environment. So they had hired an atheist tutor to protect their children from the influence of religion, which is seen as evil. Russell had an older brother, Frank Russell , who inherited the title of Earl from his grandfather in 1878; after his brother's death, the title fell to Bertrand in 1931. John Stuart Mill , a friend of his father's, was - in a non-religious sense - Bertrand Russell's godfather.

After their parents' death, Bertrand Russell and his brother were taken in by their Victorian grandparents and grew up on their estate at Pembroke Lodge , Richmond Park . His grandfather died in 1878, and so Russell was raised primarily by his grandmother, a religious woman who, however, had progressive views on science and social justice and thus had a significant influence on him.

Bertrand Russell had a lonely youth. One of the defining events was long walks in Richmond Park, where he spent much of his time. He was tutored by private tutors and studied literature and mathematics. In his autobiography he wrote that he was unhappy at the time and sometimes thought of suicide. However, the thought of his family and the intention to contribute something to mathematics kept him from doing so.

Years of study at Cambridge

Bertrand Russell as a student in 1893

Russell received a scholarship from Cambridge University , his father's alma mater, and studied mathematics there from 1890 to 1894. Here he found a circle of friends and interlocutors, including George Edward Moore , Alfred North Whitehead and John Maynard Keynes . On Whitehead's recommendation, he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles' conspiratorial debating club . On the other hand, he was dissatisfied with the academic teaching of mathematics ("I had nothing at all from the lectures") and philosophy ("Most of what I learned there in philosophy I gradually recognized as wrong"). He later received a fellowship that enabled him to conduct research from 1895 to 1901 without teaching obligations.

During his student years Russell met Alys Pearsall Smith, daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith and Hannah Whitall Smith , an influential American Quaker family in the sanctification movement . They fell in love and married in December 1894 - against the wishes of Russell's family. The family had previously found him a job in the British Embassy in Paris, also to separate him from his fiancée. But Russell was not happy in Paris and decided - although the urbane Alys finally urged him to pursue a career as an ambassador - for theoretical work as a mathematician, philosopher and writer.

The way to the Principia Mathematica

Bertrand Russell 1907

At a mathematical congress in 1900 Russell met the Italian logician Giuseppe Peano and his work. Russell appropriated and expanded Peano's methods, thereby laying the foundation for Principia Mathematica , the attempt to reduce all mathematics to a limited set of axioms and inference rules . Work on this monumental work lasted from 1902 to 1913, when the third and final volume was published. Russell wrote the Principia Mathematica together with Whitehead, who temporarily lived with his family in Russell's house.

In 1911 Russell first met the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein from Vienna, who had started studying at Cambridge, and became friends with him.

According to his account, Russell's marriage failed as early as 1902. The couple subsequently lived separately from one another. Russell feared professional disadvantages and did not divorce until 1921 when his future second wife became pregnant. During this time he had several affairs, including with Lady Ottoline Morrell , with whom he remained in friendship until the end of her life, as numerous letters testify.

Russell was politically active from the end of the 19th century. Like his mother, he campaigned for women's suffrage and ran in a by-election in 1907 - albeit unsuccessfully - for the House of Commons .

First World War

Bertrand Russell 1916

A decisive event in Russell's life was the First World War . Starting in 1914, Russell put his mathematical research on hold and began working as an activist and writer against the UK's participation in the war and for conscientious objection. In a later interview he explained that as a truth-loving person he felt repulsed by the propaganda of all warring nations, just as he, as a civilization-loving person, was appalled by the "relapse into barbarism". It would have been much better for the world if “Great Britain had remained neutral and the Germans won a quick victory”. Then later there would have been neither the Nazis nor the Communists, because these were "both products of the First World War". The fact that he had been fined for reading a leaflet prompted the University of Cambridge to revoke his professorship. He was later sentenced to six months in prison for considering the possibility of US soldiers being used against striking workers in an antiwar service magazine in England. However, prison conditions were mild and Russell was allowed to read and write in prison; he wrote several books during his detention. Russell was hardly bothered by his incarceration because it kept his "self-respect" and the opportunity to "ponder things that were less painful than the general destruction."

Between the Wars: Travel and Second Marriage

After the First World War, Russell made several trips. In 1920 he visited the RSFSR with a delegation from the Labor Party and, among other things, had the opportunity to talk to Lenin , who greatly disappointed him. Russell returned disaffected and was extremely negative about Russian socialism. He wrote in a letter: “Down to the simplest peasant, they are a people of artists; the Bolsheviks set themselves the goal of industrializing them as much as possible and turning them into Yankees . ”Russell, who had previously sympathized with socialism , was now an outspoken opponent of communism.

In 1920 and 1921 Russell made a trip to China and Japan. The Peking University had offered him, who had been released in Cambridge as a visiting professor. Russell, deeply impressed by many aspects of Chinese culture, summarized the experiences of his travels in several books.

Russell was accompanied on his Asia trip by his then lover Dora Black . She nursed him to health when he was near death from pneumonia in China. When they returned to England together, Dora was pregnant, whereupon Bertrand Russell divorced his wife Alys Pearsall Smith in 1921 and shortly thereafter married Dora Black.

Together they founded the experimental libertarian Beacon Hill School for their children Kate and John Russell in 1927 . During these years Russell worked mainly as a writer and wrote books on philosophical and educational topics, but also popular scientific treatises on contemporary physical theories such as quantum physics and relativity .

On a lecture tour through the USA in 1927 Russell met the writer and later gestalt therapist Barry Stevens (then still Barry Fox). In Stevens' / Fox's words, they were very close for three years. Stevens' daughter Judith attended Russell's Beacon Hill School for a while. Russell wrote 34 letters to Barry Fox / Stevens between 1927 and 1932. The letters are now in the Bertrand Russell Archives at McMasters University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Russell's marriage to Dora Black also finally failed, and in 1936, at the age of 64, Russell married Patricia Helen Spence (known as "Peter"). With her he had a son, Conrad Russell . The family moved to the United States, where Russell initially taught at the universities of Chicago and Los Angeles.

Second World War, teaching ban and rehabilitation

In 1939 Russell left Los Angeles to accept a position as a lecturer at the City College of New York . Although he had already been appointed professor in New York, New York University was forced to withdraw its appointment in 1940. The reason for this were protests by fundamentalist Christians and politicians, who were of the opinion that Russell spoke out against religion and thus for immorality in his writings and was therefore unsuitable for the task of teaching logic and the fundamentals of mathematics. These circles particularly criticized Russell's book Marriage and Morals .

Students, faculty members and several intellectuals (including John Dewey and Albert Einstein ) protested in vain against this interference in the freedom of teaching. The university was brought to trial by the mother of a student. The controversial verdict prohibited the university from appealing to Russell because he endangered the morale of the students and advocated adultery and the "crime of homosexuality".

This brought Bertrand Russell, who - as he wrote in his autobiography - at times had the impression that he could no longer perform in public without causing a “Catholic lynch mob”, in a financially difficult situation because he had to pay for the education of his children. During this time he was helped by Albert C. Barnes , who gave him a position as a lecturer at the Barnes Foundation . However, Russell soon fell out with Barnes, who was considered eccentric, who criticized the quality of his lectures and therefore released him prematurely from his five-year contract. Barnes was later defeated in court and had to make back payments. Who criticized lectures formed the basis for much of the published work in 1945 History of Western Philosophy ( History of Western Philosophy ), which was very successful and financially Russell provided protection for many years.

Unlike in World War I, Russell did not take a pacifist position in World War II . Shortly after the end of the war, he even spoke out in favor of a preventive war against the Soviet Union, which did not yet have nuclear weapons. He wanted to prevent a nuclear war that would destroy humanity (see Political and Social Engagement ).

In 1944 Russell returned to England to teach again at Trinity College , Cambridge. In the following years he also worked on radio broadcasts for the BBC .

In 1948, while on the way to a lecture, he survived the accident involving the Bukken Bruse flying boat in Norway.

In 1949 Russell received the Order of Merit , and in 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature , particularly marriage and morality , for which he had been heavily criticized a few years earlier.

Last phase of life

After Russell's marriage to Patricia Helen Spence had ended in divorce, he entered into a fourth marriage with Edith Finch in 1952, which lasted until the end of his life.

At 78 years of age, the world-famous and multiple award-winning Russell did not withdraw from the public eye after 1950. Above all, he was moved by a possible Third World War as a great danger to humanity. He was the driving force behind the Russell-Einstein Manifesto and was involved in various political crises of the Cold War as a mediator between the heads of state. He was temporarily president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament . In 1961, along with other members of the organization, he was charged with calling for resistance to state violence and - at the age of 89 - sentenced to two months' imprisonment. This sentence was reduced to "one week on the basis of medical certificates."

In 1963 he founded the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation . In the Russell Tribunal , he investigated US war crimes in Vietnam .

In old age he wrote his autobiography, which appeared in three volumes from 1967 to 1969.

On February 2, 1970, Bertrand Russell died of influenza at the age of 97 in Penrhyndeudraeth (Wales) .

plant

Bertrand Russell's work can be roughly divided into three topics, on which - despite many overlaps - he focused his work in different phases of his life. While he mainly worked on the basics of mathematics in the first half of his life, after completing the Principia Mathematica he turned increasingly to philosophical questions. In the last third of his life, his political commitment played the main role.

Mathematics and Analytical Philosophy

In his work in the field of mathematical logic , Russell relied on Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , Giuseppe Peano and Gottlob Frege, among others . His first mathematical work, An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry , was influenced by Immanuel Kant's view of time and space, which was widely accepted at the time. Russell later distanced himself from this work, which received much more praise than it deserved, and also from Kant, whose philosophy he considered incompatible with the spacetime concept of relativity theory .

Russell's antinomy and type theory

With regard to set theory , Russell became famous for the paradox named after him ( Russell's antinomy ). This paradox arises when one considers the set of all sets that do not contain themselves as an element. This set contains itself if and only if it does not contain itself, which is a contradiction which has the consequence that the set of all sets that do not contain themselves cannot exist. A popular version of this paradox is known as the barber's paradox .

With this discovery, Gottlob Frege's basic assumption that every concept corresponds to a set as a conceptual scope was refuted, because there is no corresponding set for the concept of a set that does not contain itself . That meant the end of naive set theory . To remedy the antinomy he had discovered, Russell developed type theory, the first version of which was published in Principles of Mathematics (1903) and which he further developed in his work Principia Mathematica (1910–1913). His type theory has not established itself permanently in set theory, since the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory proved to be more efficient.

Principia Mathematica

Together with Alfred North Whitehead , Russell wrote Principia Mathematica, one of the most important works of basic mathematical research after the upheavals in mathematics at the beginning of the 20th century. The aim was to construct all mathematical truths from a set of axioms and inference rules . Russell's focus was on philosophical problems, Whitehead's on mathematical problems. An announced fourth volume on the fundamentals of geometry was not completed.

After the book Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), written in prison , in which he mainly explains earlier work and their philosophical significance, Russell turned away from problems of mathematics and logic.

Analytical philosophy

Bertrand Russell, along with George Edward Moore, is considered to be one of the founders of analytical philosophy . His first significant contribution to the philosophy of language was the labeling theory , which he presented in the 1905 essay On Denoting . In it he represented a philosophy of ideal language and influenced logical positivism .

Another contribution of Russell is the development towards logical atomism within analytical philosophy. Its main message is that there is a basic language to which ordinary laws can be reduced and which consists of atomic, irreducible logical facts. His essay The Philosophy of Logical Atomism (1918/1919) and the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein , with whom Russell was friends, are fundamental works of that logical atomism.

Ludwig Wittgenstein had initially been Russell's student in Cambridge, later he became his interlocutor and friend. Russell quickly recognized Wittgenstein's extraordinary talent and motivated him to continue his work in phases of doubt.

Religion and ethics

Although Russell had published several books on ethics and morals, he did not recognize ethics as a field of philosophy in the strict sense, since its findings could not be described as knowledge . Influenced at a young age by George Edward Moore's Principia Ethica , according to which ethical facts can be objective, he was later more of a follower of David Hume's subjective ethics and took the view that ethics derive from the " passions ". There is no reliable method to get from passions to knowledge. Throughout his life he valued the methodical approach of modern science as a reliable source of knowledge. Russell changed his mind several times. So he gave up his rigorous pacifism in the face of World War II . The first of the Liberal's Ten Commandments , published in 1951 in the New York Times Magazine , was: "Don't feel completely certain about anything!"

Although Russell was initially raised by his devout grandmother, he never felt like a Christian. But in his youth - in a phase when he felt drawn to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy - he believed in the existence of God. This changed, among other things through the influence of the philosophy of John Stuart Mills , and soon Russell was referred to in public as an agnostic or atheist . He saw himself as a skeptic and made it clear that he was an agnostic in the sense that one could not prove the non-existence of any thing - including a "god" or the Homeric gods . However, it is the task of a religion to first prove that God exists (cf. his well-known analogy " Russell's teapot "). However, this has never been successful so far. Russell also denied the validity of one of the most popular arguments for the existence of a creator god, that of the alleged necessity of a cause in the world: “If everything must have a cause, then God must also have a cause. But if there can be something that has no cause, it can just as easily be the world as it is God, so that the argument becomes meaningless ”. Towards the end of his life, Russell therefore called himself an atheist.

He has summarized his views on religion in the long essay Why I am not a Christian (1927; exp. 1957). Russell believed religion in general, and Christianity in particular , to be an evil, "a disease that arose out of fear." Islam, Judaism and Christianity, in particular, are essentially “slave religions” that demand unconditional submission: “The whole idea of ​​the ruling God comes from the ancient oriental tyranny. It is an idea that is unworthy of a free man. ”Russell also criticized Christian ethics , especially sexual ethics , sharply in other texts , which he described as“ the rape of human nature ”.

At the age of eighty, however, Russell had another experience that led him to a very surprising self-discovery: on the occasion of a visit to Greece, he felt unequivocally that he felt “far more at home” in an old Christian church than in buildings from “pagan antiquity ". It became "clear to him that the Christian outlook had far more influence on me than I had believed." Russell saw the essential difference between the ancient and the Christian world in the "absence of any concept of sin " in the ancient Greeks . He wrote: "I was now surprised to see that this term also dominated my feelings." However , he denied that this knowledge of his own cultural imprint had an influence on his beliefs .

Political and social engagement

Election poster for Bertrand Russell during his campaign for women's suffrage (1907)

Russell dealt with social issues from an early age. He wrote his first book not about a mathematical topic, but about the then revolutionary German Social Democracy (1896) after a trip to Berlin, where he met August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht , among others . In the course of his life he published many socio-critical and philosophical studies; Finally, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his multifaceted and meaningful authorship, in which he emerged as a champion of humanity and freedom of thought" .

Russell didn't stop at theory. He advocated women's suffrage and social justice in the early 20th century . In Proposed Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism and Syndicalism (1919) he advocated a moderate form of syndicalism, English guild socialism .

As a pacifist and peace activist, Russell had been known since the First World War. A pacifist who categorically opposed violence was not Russell, who was critical of any ideology . But he got involved in pacifist organizations, wrote an open letter to the American President Woodrow Wilson and later campaigned for an organization to support conscientious objectors. He was serving a six-month sentence for an article for the organization's magazine. He had already lost his job at Trinity College due to his political activities.

After the First World War, he ran in elections in 1922 and 1923 for the Labor Party , but was unsuccessful. His social activity soon concentrated on the libertarian boarding school Beacon Hill School , founded in 1927 with his then wife Dora Russell , a project that arose from the Russells' dissatisfaction with all school models at the time. In retrospect, Bertrand Russell viewed the experiment of the new school, which had received much public attention and which was continued alone after the separation from his wife, and stated that the freedom of the children in the school was less than it was given.

Bertrand Russell had spoken out in 1935 in Which Way to Peace (a book whose re-edition he forbade until the end of his life) still for a policy of appeasement against Nazi Germany. He moved away from this position in 1940 because he realized that Adolf Hitler had to be defeated ("I find that I cannot maintain my pacifist attitude in this war").

Along with Victor Gollancz , George Bell and others, he was one of the signatories of an appeal against the expulsion of Germans from East Central Europe that appeared in several London daily newspapers on September 12, 1945 .

An important event for Russell that would determine his future life was the dropping of the first atomic bomb in 1945. Russell saw all humanity threatened if the communist Soviet Union also had the appropriate technology. He predicted that atomic bombs would get cheaper and that in the not too distant future there would be a hydrogen bomb . In his opinion (and after a number of other Western intellectuals of the time) it was necessary to form a world government under the leadership of the United States.

In several articles - including the treatise Humanity's Last Chance , published in October 1945 by Cavalcade magazine - he suggested using the atomic bomb to wage a preventive war against the Soviet Union within the next two years in order to force it to accept a world government under US leadership. When the first Soviet atomic bomb tests were carried out in 1949, Russell modified his attitude. Now Russell saw the only chance for human survival to be to prevent World War III, and much of his time was devoted to that goal.

In 1955 Russell wrote the Russell Einstein Manifesto with Albert Einstein and other well-known scientists , in which the responsibility of science and research was appealed. In 1957, the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs were based on this , where renowned scientists debate questions of the nuclear threat and proposals for global security.

As president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , founded in 1958 , he was involved in many interviews, writings and lectures for peace. In correspondence he tried to persuade Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Nikita Sergejewitsch Khrushchev to cooperate and disarm.

In 1962, Russell intervened in the Cuban Missile Crisis through telegrams to John F. Kennedy , Khrushchev, UN Secretary General Sithu U Thant and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan as the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Khrushchev wrote Russell a long reply published by the Soviet news agency TASS , which was actually addressed to Kennedy and the Western world. Khrushchev finally gave in, which averted nuclear war.

In 1962, in a telegram to Khrushchev, which was also signed by François Mauriac and Martin Buber , Russell demanded the restoration of all civil rights for Soviet Jews . Russell's private correspondence with Khrushchev on the subject was published in the British and Soviet press and Radio Moscow in February 1963 .

In addition, Russell founded the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation in 1963 , which was supposed to continue working for peace and human rights after his death . He belonged to the opposition to the Vietnam War and, at a very old age, investigated war crimes committed by the USA in Vietnam with Simone de Beauvoir , Jean-Paul Sartre , Günther Anders and Peter Weiss in the Russell Tribunals since 1966 .

Awards

In 1908 Russell was accepted as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society , which in 1934 awarded him the New Year's Eve Medal . In 1951 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters . Other awards:

• 1949 Order of Merit
• 1949 honorary member of the British Academy
• 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1957 Kalinga Prize for popularizing science
• 1960 Sonning Prize from the University of Copenhagen
• 1963 Jerusalem Prize for the freedom of the individual in society .

selected Writings

Bertrand Russell published a large number of books, essays, pamphlets and letters in his life, which are not reproduced here in full. For a detailed bibliography see literature .

• German Social Democracy. London 1896
  • German social democracy. Dietz, Bonn / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-8012-1115-0
• The Logic of Geometry. In: Min. 5, 1896, pp. 1-23
• The A Priori in Geometry. In: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 2, 1896, pp. 97-112
• An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry. University Press, Cambridge 1897
• Sur les Axiomes de la Géométrie. In: Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale. 7, 1899, pp. 684-707
• A Critical Exposition of the Philosophy of Leibniz. University Press, Cambridge 1900
• Geometry, Non-Euclidean. In: Encyclopedia Britannica. 28, 1902, pp. 664-674
• The Principles of Mathematics . University Press, Cambridge 1903
• On denoting. In: Min. No. 14, 1905
• The Theory of Implication . In: American Journal of Mathematics. 28, 1906, pp. 159-202
• Mathematical logic as based on the theory of types. In: American Journal of Mathematics. 30, 1908, pp. 222–262 ( PDF; 1.9 MB )
• with Alfred North Whitehead: Principia Mathematica . 3 volumes, University Press, Cambridge 1910-1913, ISBN 3-518-28193-3
• The Problems of Philosophy. Williams & Norgate, London 1912
  • Problems of philosophy. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1967, ISBN 3-518-10207-9
• Our Knowledge of the External World. Open Court, Chicago / London 1914
  • Our knowledge of the outside world. Meiner, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-7873-1685-4
• Justice in War-time. Open Court, Chicago / London 1916
• Political Ideals . The Century Co., New York 1917
• On the notion of a cause. In: BR: Mysticism and Logic. Longmans Green, London 1918, also in: H. Feigl & M. Brodbeck (Eds.): Readings in the Philosophy of Science. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York 1953 ( PDF; 1.5 MB )
• Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism, and Syndicalism. George Allen & Unwin, London 1918
  • Ways to freedom. Socialism, anarchism, syndicalism. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1971, ISBN 3-518-00447-6
• The Philosophy of Logical Atomism. In: The Monist. 1918–19 ( PDF; 1.1 MB )
• Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy . George Allen & Unwin, London 1919
  • Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy. Edited by Johannes Lenhard & Michael Otte. Meiner, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-7873-1828-5
• The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism . George Allen & Unwin, London 1920
  • The practice and theory of Bolshevism. ISBN 3-87139-087-9
• The Analysis of Mind . George Allen & Unwin, London 1921
  • Analysis of the mind. Trans. V. Kurt Grelling. Meiner, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 978-3-7873-1707-3
• The Problem of China . George Allen & Unwin, London 1922
• The ABC of Relativity. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, London 1925
  • The ABC of the theory of relativity. Fischer, 1997, ISBN 3-596-26579-7
• What I believe. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, London 1925
• On Education, especially in early childhood. George Allen & Unwin, London 1926
  • Upbringing, especially in early childhood. Meridian Verlag, Düsseldorf / Frankfurt 1948
• The Analysis of Matter. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, London 1927
• An Outline of Philosophy . George Allen & Unwin, London 1927
• Selected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Modern Library, New York 1927
• Why I Am Not a Christian . Watts, London 1927
  • Why I am not a Christian. Circle of Friends of Monistic Literature, Dresden [1932] ( 1st place on the Spiegel bestseller list from October 9th to 15th, 1963 )
• Skeptical essays. George Allen & Unwin, London 1928
• Marriage and Morals. George Allen & Unwin, London 1929
  • Marriage and morals . Verlag Darmstädter Blätter, Darmstadt 1984, ISBN 3-87139-082-8 (German-language first edition 1930 under the title Ehe und Moral. Eine Sexualethik )
• The Conquest of Happiness. George Allen & Unwin, London 1930
  • Conquering happiness. New ways to create a better life. Holle, Baden-Baden 1951; Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1977, ISBN 3-518-36889-3
• The Scientific Outlook. George Allen & Unwin, London 1931
• Education and the Social Order. George Allen & Unwin, London 1932
• Freedom and Organization, 1814-1914. George Allen & Unwin, London 1934
• In Praise of Idleness. George Allen & Unwin, London 1935
  • Praise to idleness. ISBN 3-423-30851-6
• Religion and Science. Thornton Butterworth, London 1935
• Which Way to Peace? Jonathan Cape, London 1936
• with Patricia Russell: The Amberley Papers. Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, London 1937
• as ed. with Otto Neurath , Niels Bohr , John Dewey , Rudolf Carnap and Charles W. Morris : Encylopedia and Unified Science (=  International Encyclopedia of Unified Science . Volume 1, No. 1). Chicago 1938.
• Power: A New Social Analysis . George Allen & Unwin, London 1938
  • Power. Europa-Verlag, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-203-81530-3
• An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. WW Norton & Company, New York 1940
• A History of Western Philosophy . Simon and Schuster, New York 1946
  • Philosophy of the Occident. Their connection with political and social development. Parkland, 2011, ISBN 3-492-24208-1 ; Europe, Zurich 2012, ISBN 3-905811-63-4
• Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. George Allen & Unwin, London 1948
• Authority and the Individual. George Allen & Unwin, London 1949
• Unpopular essays. George Allen & Unwin, London 1950
  • Unpopular considerations. ISBN 3-85665-512-3
• New Hopes for a Changing World. George Allen & Unwin, London 1951
• The Impact of Science on Society. George Allen & Unwin, London 1952
  • Science changes life. Paul List Verlag, Munich 1953
• Satan in the Suburbs and Other Stories. George Allen & Unwin, London 1953
  • Satan in the suburbs. Holle, Darmstadt 1953; Ullstein, Frankfurt / Berlin / Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-548-20330-2
• Human Society in Ethics and Politics. George Allen & Unwin, London 1954
• Nightmares of Eminent Persons and Other Stories. George Allen & Unwin, London 1954
• Portraits from Memory and Other Essays. George Allen & Unwin, London 1956
• Logic and Knowledge: Essays 1901-1950. Edited by RC Marsh. George Allen & Unwin, London 1956
• Why I Am Not A Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. Edited and with an appendix on The Bertrand Russell Case by Paul Edwards . George Allen & Unwin, London 1957
  • Why I am not a Christian. Szczesny, Munich 1963; Rowohlt, Reinbek 1968, ISBN 3-499-16685-2
• Understanding History and Other Essays. Philosophical Library, New York 1958
• Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare. George Allen & Unwin, London 1959
• My Philosophical Development. George Allen & Unwin, London 1959
• Wisdom of the West. Edited by P. Foulkes. Macdonald, London 1959
  • Thinker of the occident. A history of philosophy. ISBN 3-8112-2515-4 ; Nikol, 2012, ISBN 3-86820-127-0
• Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind. World Publishing Company, Cleveland / New York 1960
• The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell. Edited by RE Egner & LE Denonn. George Allen & Unwin, London 1961
• Fact and fiction. George Allen & Unwin, London 1961
• Has Man a Future? George Allen & Unwin, London 1961
• Essays in Skepticism. Philosophical Library, New York 1963
• Unarmed Victory. George Allen & Unwin, London 1963
• On the Philosophy of Science. Edited by CA Fritz Jr. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis 1965
• Russell's Peace Appeals. Edited by Tsutomu Makino & Kazuteru Hitaka. Eichosha's New Current Books, 1967
• Was crimes in Vietnam. George Allen & Unwin, London 1967
• The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell. 3 volumes. George Allen & Unwin, London 1967–1969
• Dear Bertrand Russell… A Selection of his Correspondence with the General Public 1950–1968. Edited by B. Feinberg & R. Kasrils. George Allen & Unwin, London 1969
• Bertrand Russell. Essays in Analysis. Edited by Douglas Lackey. George Allen & Unwin, London 1973
• The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. George Allen & Unwin, London 1984 ff.

literature

• AJ Ayer: Bertrand Russell . Munich 1973.
• Kenneth Blackwell, Harry Ruja: A Bibliography of Bertrand Russell . Routledge, London 1994.
• Achim von Borries: Rebel against the war. Bertrand Russell 1914-1918. Verlag Graswurzelrevolution, Nettersheim 2006, ISBN 3-939045-01-2 .
• Helmut Linneweber-Lammerskitten:  Russell, Bertrand. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1045-1049.
• RW Clark: Bertrand Russell - philosopher, pacifist and politician . Munich 1984.
• Apostolos Doxiadis , Christos Papadimitriou , Alecos Papadatos , Annie di Donna: Logicomix: an epic search for truth. From the English by Ebi Naumann. Atrium-Verlag, Zurich 2012.
• W. Langhammer: Bertrand Russell . Cologne 1983.
• Ray Monk: Bertrand Russell: 1872-1920. The Spirit of Solitude. 1997, ISBN 0-09-973131-2 .
• Ray Monk: Bertrand Russell: 1921-1970. The Ghost of Madness. 2001, ISBN 0-09-927275-X .
• Christian Mueller-Goldingen : Bertrand Russell. Studies on his philosophical work . Lit Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-11928-5 .
• Josef Rattner : Bertrand Russell - An essay. Study edition. Publishing house for depth psychology, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-921836-58-3 .
• A. Ryan: Bertrand Russell - A Political Life . Hill & Wang Publisher, London 1981.
• Ernst R. Sandvoss: Bertrand Russell in self-testimonies and picture documents (= rororo picture monographs. 282). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980, ISBN 3-499-50282-8 .
• Denis Vernant: Bertrand Russell. Garnier-Flammarion, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-08-071192-X .
• Alan Wood, Hildegard Hintzsche: Bertrand Russell - a passionate skeptic . Munich 1959, OCLC 163742033 .

Web links

Commons : Bertrand Russell  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Bertrand Russell  - Quotes

• Literature by and about Bertrand Russell in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Bertrand Russell  in the German Digital Library
• Bertrand Russell - A thinker against his time radio show - in the online archive of the Austrian Media Library
• Wolfgang Burgmer: 02.02.1970 - Anniversary of the death of Bertrand Russell. WDR ZeitZeichen from February 2, 2020 (podcast).

materials

• BBC interview from 1959 in 3 parts (YouTube Videos) - Part 1 ( Memento from January 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Part 2 ( Memento from March 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Part 3 ( Memento from 28. August 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Works

• Ten Commandments of a Liberal
• Proposed Roads to Freedom (e-Text)
• e-texts , ed. Cosma R. Shalizi
  • On Denoting (1905) (e-Text)
• The Bertrand Russell Archives , McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada (English)
• e-texts at Positive Atheism, ed. Cliff Walker
• Digital copies at archive.org

Secondary literature

• Information from the Nobel Foundation on the 1950 award ceremony for Earl Russell
• AD Irvine:  Entry in Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .

Individual evidence

1. ^ CD Broad: Critical Notices . Mind 1947, p. 355.
2. ^ Bertrand Russell: Autobiography. Volumes I-III. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / M. 1972–1974, pp. I / 73 (Original edition: The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell . Allen & Unwin, London 1967–1969. 3 vol.).
3. ↑ Autobiography , pp. I / 93
4. ↑ Autobiography , pp. I / 104
5. ^ Bertrand Russell - The day the Great War began. Retrieved February 2, 2020 (English, audio recording by Betrand Russels, YouTube video). 
6. ^ Bertrand Russell - Face to Face Interview (BBC, 1959). BBC (YouTube video), accessed February 2, 2020 . 
7. ↑ In detail on Russell's engagement against the war: Peter Hoeres: Der Krieg der Philosophen. German and British Philosophy in World War I , 2004, ISBN 978-3-506-71731-3 .
8. ↑ Autobiography , pp. II / 38
9. ↑ Autobiography , p. II / 183
10. ↑ In Praise of Idleness , pp. 72f
11. ↑ D. Kranz: Barry Stevens - Life Gestalten. In: Gestalt criticism. Die Zeitschrift für Gestalttherapie, No. 2, 2011, pp. 4–11, p. 5.
12. ^ D. Gorham: Dora and Bertrand Russell and Beacon Hill School. In: Russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, ns 25, 2005, pp. 39-76, p. 57.
13. ^ C. Spadoni: Recent Acquisitions: Correspondence. In: Russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, Vol 1, 1981, Iss. 1, Article 6, pp. 43-67.
14. ^ Ernst R. Sandvoss: Bertrand Russell , p. 90
15. ↑ Autobiography , p. II / 339
16. ↑ Autobiography , pp. III / 167
17. ↑ Autobiography , pp. I / 198
18. ↑ Autobiography , pp. II / 150f
19. ↑ Autobiography , pp. III / 35
20. ↑ Autobiography , pp. III / 36
21. ↑ Autobiography, pp. III / 80–81; also published in: Ten Commandments of a Liberal. In: Society for Critical Philosophy Nuremberg (Ed.): Enlightenment and Criticism. Journal for free thinking and humanistic philosophy, issue 2/1994, p. 136 ( online ) (various translations).
22. ↑ Why I'm Not a Christian , p. 179
23. ↑ Why I am not a Christian , p. 20
24. ↑ Why I'm Not a Christian , p. 35
25. ↑ Why I am not a Christian , p. 36
26. ↑ Why I'm Not a Christian , p. 93
27. ↑ Autobiography , pp. III / 92
28. ↑ Ronald Clark: The Life of Bertrand Russell.
29. ↑ Peter Hoeres: War of the Philosophers: German and British Philosophy in the First World War. Ferd. Schöningh GmbH & Co KG, 2004, p. 351.
30. ↑ Autobiography , p. II / 235
31. ^ Sandvoss, p. 95
32. ^ William Poundstone: Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb. Anchor / Random House, 1992, p. 69 ff.
33. ^ IF Stone: Bertrand Russell as a moral force in world politics.
34. ^ Douglas P. Lackey: Russell's contribution to the study of nuclear weapons policy. (PDF)
35. ↑ Malte Lehming: The Pope of the End Times with reference to the Russell article "Towards a Short War with Russia". Der Tagesspiegel , June 28, 2015, p. 6.
36. ^ William Poundstone: Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb. Anchor / Random House, 1992, p. 210.
37. ^ Entry in the archives of the Royal Society .
38. ^ Honorary Members: Bertrand Russell. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 20, 2019 . 
39. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed July 26, 2020 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
John Francis Stanley Russell	Earl Russell 1931-1970	John Conrad Russell