Philosopher views

RUSSELL ON EDUCATION

Russell was an agnostic, which may come as a surprise to some people who would assume from his writings that he was an atheist. Russell felt that the pathway to understanding some of the difficult questions of life was not through religion. Instead, Russell felt that the chief of those pathways to the heavens was through education. Russell did not focus on the administrative aspect of how the education process should work. He did not find an interest in exactly how schools should be set up or how teachers should be trained. Instead of speaking in terms of the practical implementation of an education system, he focused on the vague spiritual essence of the goals of education. The goal of education, according to Russell, is to form character. Education is the process of making us as individuals who we are and ensuring that we develop the best kind of character. The best kind of character for Russell is vital, courageous, sensitive, and intelligent. The best character would take all of these characteristics to the highest degree.

RUSSELL ON METAPHYSICS

Russell explained several concepts on the idea of metaphysics. His ideas on this subject are focused on mathematical concepts and then translate into how we can make decisions about truth and the sensory information that we gain through society. Russell gave the name logical atomism to the views he developed from OKEW onwards. Logical atomism is principally a method, and Russell hoped that it would resolve questions about the nature of perception and its relation to physics. Russell’s views on metaphysics were that straightforward interpretation of physics but rather also included the representation of it as a logical structure.

Russell uses this concept of establishing metaphysics to extend deeper into the establishment of his logical atomism. His discussion on logical atomism revolves around the structure of responses and our use of language. Basically, he evaluates the constructs in language of referring to particular subjects. In referring to these objects, the proposition has the effect of denoting a different expression than the object itself.

RUSSELL ON THE THEORY OF INCOMPLETE SYMBOLS

Perhaps Russell’s greatest contribution to logic was his theory of definite descriptions and the more broad concept of incomplete symbols. It is in this first area that Russell explains how there is a respective difference between statements that are made. He uses the example of “I met Quine.” For Russell, this statement is a different proposition than “I met the author of Quiddities.” Even though Quide is the author of Quiddities, it is a new and different statement when the words and symbols differ. The difference between the two statements is simple. In the first statement, the statement differs because the words refer directly to the object. However, the second statement is not about the concept, but rather what the concept denotes.

RUSSELL ON PACIFISM

Russell was a major pacifist who actively opposed his country’s participation in the WWI and was horrified for the support it received from his country. He urged the end of colonialism early in his life and traced the use of non-cooperation to best achieve his ends. Citing the horrors of war, including economic devastation, psychological torture, military casualties, civilian casualties, and the spiritual evils of hatred and deception, Russell believed that non-cooperation was the best of all possible defenses. This included defense against foreign aggressors (what could the Germans do if everybody in England refused to follow their orders? Certainly they couldn’t kill them all…) and also resistance to the actions of one’s own country. Russell was not an absolute pacifist, and like Einstein, he did not oppose WWII with the same vehemence as WWI.

Crucial to Russell’s pacifism, was his belief that capitalism promotes warfare, as he argued in Roads to Freedom. Capitalism, he argued, fuels the desire of imperial powers to forcefully exploit the resources of other countries. Also, capitalism is a quest for power, and thus as an inherent result there is a constant battle between those seeking power and those wishing to keep it. While Russell does not necessarily suggest the abolishment of capitalism as a means to peace, he certainly argues for the abolishment for private property and capital as necessary precursor to world peace.
Russell was a huge believer in world government. In 1918 he supported the League of Nations and proclaimed that a world government was fundamental in order to for humanity to “survive another hundred years” and proclaimed that the rights of a nation against humanity are no more absolute than the rights of an individual against the community. In Political Ideals Russell discusses the need for an international government to secure peace in the world by means of effective international law. Just as police are needed to protect private citizens from the use of force, so an international police can prevent the lawless use of force by states. The benefit of having law rather than international anarchy will give the international government a respected authority so that states will no longer feel free to use aggression. Then a large international force will become unnecessary.
The last 20 years of Russell’s life were devoted mainly to non-proliferation. As the founder of the Center of Nuclear Disarmament, Russell devoted his time to stopping the nuclear proliferation of the British and the expulsion of US bases from British land. Russell addressed an open letter to Eisenhower and Khrushchev in November 1957, entreating them to recognize human life as a paramount value and asking them to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world. This, he argued, would cost a lot less than continuing to escalate a growing conflict, and would also stand to give the globe hope that they would not die in a nuclear holocaust. By the age of 88, however, Russell began to move to a more radical role. Sanderson explains:
“Russell came to believe that a more radical strategy was needed, and he resigned from the CND to begin to plan actions of civil disobedience through the ‘Committee of 100.’ A sit-down demonstration took place at a U.S. Polaris Base in which 20,000 people attended a rally and 5,000 sat down and risked arrest. On August 6, 1961 (‘Hiroshima Day’) they met at Hyde Park, and Russell illegally used a microphone. He was arrested and convicted of inciting the public to civil disobedience; his sentence was commuted to one week. Russell wrote eloquent leaflets and gave speeches for these and other demonstrations urging that the seriousness of nuclear peril justified non-violent civil disobedience against the offending governments which are ‘organizing the massacre of the whole of mankind."

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