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PhilosophersBertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell

Clarify thought with logic, doubt dogmas.

Analytic philosophy · Empiricism1872 – 1970 United KingdomLogicianAnalytic philosopherCritic of religionPeace campaigner
I should say that the universe is just there, and that's all.
Debate with Copleston, BBC 1948.
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Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves
The Problems of Philosophy, chapter 15.
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A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage
Why I Am Not a Christian, 1927.
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Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them.
Is There a God?, 1952.
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The man who has fed the chicken every day throughout its life at last wrings its neck instead
The Problems of Philosophy, chapter 6.
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Misconceptions

Nuanced
Russell was an atheist.

When Copleston asks whether he thinks God's non-existence can be proved, he answers no: "my position is agnostic". But he sees no reason to believe the dogmas of theology. In a 1947 pamphlet (not yet in our corpus), he explains that he calls himself an agnostic before philosophers, but may be called an atheist in ordinary speech.

False
Russell's teapot proves that God does not exist.

It proves nothing about God: it concerns the burden of proof. Being unable to disprove a claim gives no reason to believe it. And this 1952 text was never published in his lifetime (it appeared in 1997).

False
The story of the chicken fed every day until its neck is wrung is Hume's.

It is Russell's, in The Problems of Philosophy (1912). Hume poses the problem of induction, but without this chicken.

False
For Russell, philosophy is useless, since it never finds answers.

He says the opposite: the value of philosophy lies precisely in its uncertainty. It enlarges our thoughts, frees us from "the tyranny of custom" and makes us "citizens of the universe".