Editing Bertrand Russell (section)

==Views==
{{Infobox Bertrand Russell}}

===Philosophy===
{{Main|Bertrand Russell's philosophical views}}
Russell is credited with being one of the founders of [[analytic philosophy]]. He was impressed by [[Gottfried Leibniz]] (1646–1716), and wrote on major areas of philosophy except [[aesthetics]]. He was prolific in the fields of [[metaphysics]], [[Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy#Logic and philosophy of mathematics|logic and the philosophy of mathematics]], the [[Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy#Philosophy of language|philosophy of language]], [[Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy#Ethics|ethics]] and [[Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy#Epistemology|epistemology]]. When [[Brand Blanshard]] asked Russell why he did not write on aesthetics, Russell replied that he did not know anything about it, though he hastened to add "but that is not a very good excuse, for my friends tell me it has not deterred me from writing on other subjects".<ref>Blanshard, in [[Paul Arthur Schilpp]], ed., ''The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard'', Open Court, 1980, p. 88, quoting a private letter from Russell.</ref>

On ethics, Russell wrote that he was a [[utilitarian]] in his youth, yet he later distanced himself from this view.<ref>''The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell'', London: Routledge, 2000 [London: Allen and Unwin, 1969, Vol. 1], p.&nbsp;39 ("It appeared to me obvious that the happiness of mankind should be the aim of all action, and I discovered to my surprise that there were those who thought otherwise. Belief in happiness, I found, was called Utilitarianism, and was merely one among a number of ethical theories. I adhered to it after this discovery, and was rash enough to tell my grandmother that I was a utilitarian." In a letter from 1902, in which Russell criticised utilitarianism, he wrote: "I may as well begin by confessing that for many years it seemed to me perfectly self-evident that pleasure is the only good and pain the only evil. Now, however, the opposite seems to me self-evident. This change has been brought about by what I may call moral experience." Ibid, p. 161).</ref>

For the advancement of science and protection of liberty of expression, Russell advocated [[The Will to Doubt]], the recognition that all human knowledge is at most a best guess, that one should always remember:

{{blockquote|None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error. The methods of increasing the degree of truth in our beliefs are well known; they consist in hearing all sides, trying to ascertain all the relevant facts, controlling our own bias by discussion with people who have the opposite bias, and cultivating a readiness to discard any hypothesis which has proved inadequate. These methods are practised in science, and have built up the body of scientific knowledge.

Every man of science whose outlook is truly scientific is ready to admit that what passes for scientific knowledge at the moment is sure to require correction with the progress of discovery; nevertheless, it is near enough to the truth to serve for most practical purposes, though not for all. In science, where alone something approximating to genuine knowledge is to be found, men's attitude is tentative and full of doubt.<ref name="free" />}}

===Religion===
Russell described himself in 1947 as an agnostic or an [[atheism|atheist]]: he found it difficult to determine which term to adopt, saying:{{blockquote|Therefore, in regard to the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympic gods]], speaking to a purely philosophical audience, I would say that I am an Agnostic. But speaking popularly, I think that all of us would say in regard to those gods that we were Atheists. In regard to the [[God in Christianity|Christian God]], I should, I think, take exactly the same line.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1947 |title=Am I An Atheist or an Agnostic? |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Things |url=http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell8.htm |access-date=6 July 2005 |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050622001026/http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell8.htm |archive-date=22 June 2005 |url-status=dead}}: "I never know whether I should say 'Agnostic' or whether I should say 'Atheist'.... As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one prove (sic) that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist."</ref>}} For most of his adult life, Russell maintained religion to be little more than [[superstition]] and, despite any positive effects, largely harmful to people. He believed that religion and the religious outlook serve to impede knowledge and foster fear and dependency, and to be responsible for much of our world's wars, oppression, and misery. He was a member of the advisory council of the [[British Humanist Association]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=20th Century Humanism |url=https://humanists.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th-century-humanism/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206145444/https://humanists.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th-century-humanism/ |archive-date=2023-12-06 |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=Humanists UK |language=en-GB}}</ref> and the president of Cardiff Humanists until his death.<ref>'Humanist News', March 1970{{Nonspecific|date=January 2020|reason=Journal, title, author?}}</ref>

===Society===
{{Main|Bertrand Russell's political views}}

Political and social activism occupied much of Russell's time for most of his life. Russell remained politically active almost to the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his name to various causes. He was a prominent campaigner against Western intervention into the [[Vietnam War]] in the 1960s, writing essays and books, attending demonstrations, and even organising the [[Russell Tribunal]] in 1966 alongside other prominent philosophers such as [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] and [[Simone de Beauvoir]], which fed into his 1967 book ''War Crimes in Vietnam.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=War Crimes in Vietnam |url=https://nyupress.org/9780853450580/war-crimes-in-vietnam |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=NYU Press |language=en-US |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910144655/https://nyupress.org/9780853450580/war-crimes-in-vietnam/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Russell argued for a "scientific society", where war would be abolished, population growth would be limited, and prosperity would be shared.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=The Impact of Science on Society |publisher=New York, Columbia University Press |year=1952 |chapter=Conclusions |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/impactofscienceo0000russ |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> He suggested the establishment of a "single supreme world government" able to enforce peace,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=Which Way to Peace? ''(Part 12)'' |publisher=M. Joseph Ltd. |year=1936 |page=173}}</ref> claiming that "the only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |url=https://archive.org/details/humansocietyinet0000russ |title=Human Society in Ethics and Politics |publisher=London: G. Allen & Unwin |year=1954 |page=[https://archive.org/details/humansocietyinet0000russ/page/212 212] |url-access=registration}}</ref> He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=1 July 2023 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |archive-date=3 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703034807/https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=3 July 2023 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |archive-date=3 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703034812/https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, for the first time in human history, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt the [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status=dead |access-date=15 July 2023 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA) |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719215501/http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 }}</ref> Russell also expressed support for [[guild socialism]], and commented positively on several socialist thinkers and activists.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kleene, G. A. |year=1920 |title=Bertrand Russell on Socialism |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1885165 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=756–762 |doi=10.2307/1885165 |jstor=1885165 }}</ref> According to [[Jean Bricmont]] and Normand Baillargeon, "Russell was both a [[Liberalism|liberal]] and a [[Socialism|socialist]], a combination that was perfectly comprehensible in his time, but which has become almost unthinkable today. He was a liberal in that he opposed concentrations of power in all its manifestations, military, governmental, or religious, as well as the superstitious or nationalist ideas that usually serve as its justification. But he was also a socialist, even as an extension of his liberalism, because he was equally opposed to the concentrations of power stemming from the [[private ownership]] of the major [[means of production]], which therefore needed to be put under social control (which does not mean state control)."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Bricmont |first1=Jean |last2=Norm |last3=Europe |first3=BaillargeonTopics: History Marxism Philosophy Socialism Places: Europe Soviet UnionWestern |date=1 July 2017 |title=Monthly Review {{!}} Bertrand Russell and the Socialism That Wasn't |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2017/07/01/bertrand-russell-and-the-socialism-that-wasnt/ |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=Monthly Review |language=en-US |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910144656/https://monthlyreview.org/2017/07/01/bertrand-russell-and-the-socialism-that-wasnt/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Russell was an active supporter of the [[Homosexual Law Reform Society]], being one of the signatories of [[A. E. Dyson]]'s 1958 letter to ''The Times'' calling for a change in the law regarding male homosexual practices, which were partly legalised in 1967, when Russell was still alive.<ref name="GALHA">{{Cite web |last=Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association |date=2 November 1997 |title=Lesbian and Gay Rights: The Humanist and Religious Stances |url=http://www.galha.org/briefing/lgb_rights.html |access-date=17 February 2008 |archive-date=10 June 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020610084110/http://www.galha.org/briefing/lgb_rights.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He expressed sympathy and support for the [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] people and was critical of [[Israel]]'s actions. He wrote in 1960 that, "I think it was a mistake to establish a Jewish State in Palestine, but it would be a still greater mistake to try to get rid of it now that it exists."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bertrand Russell Society Quarterly – November 2003 |url=https://www.lehman.edu/faculty/rcarey/BRSQ/03nov.russell.htm |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=www.lehman.edu |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910144727/https://www.lehman.edu/faculty/rcarey/BRSQ/03nov.russell.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In his final written document, read aloud in [[Cairo]] three days after his death on 31 January 1970, he condemned Israel as an aggressive [[Imperialism|imperialist]] power, which "wishes to consolidate with the least difficulty what it has already taken by violence. Every new conquest becomes the new basis of the proposed negotiation from strength, which ignores the injustice of the previous aggression." In regards to the Palestinian people and [[Palestinian refugees|refugees]], he wrote that, "No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate? A permanent just settlement of the refugees in their homeland is an essential ingredient of any genuine settlement in the [[Middle East]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=M. S. |date=23 May 2021 |title="Bertrand Russell's Last Message" on Israel and Palestine. |url=https://www.heritagetimes.in/bertrand-russells-last-message-on-israel-and-palestine/ |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=Heritage Times |language=en-US |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910145202/https://www.heritagetimes.in/bertrand-russells-last-message-on-israel-and-palestine |url-status=live }}</ref>

Russell advocated for a [[universal basic income]]. In his 1918 book ''Roads to Freedom'', Russell wrote that "[[Anarchism]] has the advantage as regards liberty, Socialism as regards the inducement to work.  Can we not find a method of combining these two advantages? It seems to me that we can. [...] Stated in more familiar terms, the plan we are advocating amounts essentially to this: that a certain small income, sufficient for necessaries, should be secured to all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income – as much larger as might be warranted by the total amount of commodities produced – should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful...When education is finished, no one should be compelled to work, and those who choose not to work should receive a bare livelihood and be left completely free."<ref>{{Cite web |title=A short history of the Basic Income idea {{!}} BIEN — Basic Income Earth Network |url=https://basicincome.org/history/ |access-date=12 May 2023 |website=basicincome.org |date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103180555/https://basicincome.org/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In "Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday" ("Postscript" in his ''Autobiography''), Russell wrote: "I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: 1944–1969 |publisher=Little, Brown |year=1968 |page=330}} Published separately as 'Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday' in ''Portraits from Memory''.</ref>

===Freedom of opinion and expression===
Russell supported freedom of opinion and was an opponent of both censorship and indoctrination. In 1928, he wrote: "The fundamental argument for freedom of opinion is the doubtfulness of all our belief... when the State intervenes to ensure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favour of that doctrine ... It is clear that thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions make it impossible to make a living".<ref>''Skeptical Essays'', 1928, {{ISBN|978-0-415-32508-0}}</ref> In 1957, he wrote: "'Free thought' means thinking freely ... to be worthy of the name freethinker he must be free of two things: the force of tradition and the tyranny of his own passions."<ref>Understanding History and other Essays.</ref>

===Education===
Russell has presented ideas on the possible means of control of education in case of scientific dictatorship governments, of the kind of this excerpt taken from Chapter II "General Effects of Scientific Technique" of "The Impact of Science on society":<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=The Impact of Science on Society |publisher=New York, AMS Press |year=1953 |chapter=General Effects of Scientific Technique |chapter-url=https://it.scribd.com/document/558107312/The-Impact-of-Science-on-Society-by-Bertrand-Russell |access-date=10 August 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118175706/https://it.scribd.com/document/558107312/The-Impact-of-Science-on-Society-by-Bertrand-Russell |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{blockquote|This subject will make great strides when it is taken up by scientists under a scientific dictatorship. Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black, but no one believed him. The social psychologists of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. Various results will soon be arrived at. First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark grey. Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician's paradise. The social effects of scientific technique have already been many and important, and are likely to be even more noteworthy in the future. Some of these effects depend upon the political and economic character of the country concerned; others are inevitable, whatever this character may be.}}
He pushed his visionary scenarios even further into details, in Chapter III "Scientific Technique in an Oligarchy" of the same book,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=The Impact of Science on Society |publisher=New York, AMS Press |year=1953 |chapter=Scientific Technique in an Oligarchy |chapter-url=https://it.scribd.com/document/558107312/The-Impact-of-Science-on-Society-by-Bertrand-Russell |access-date=10 August 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118175706/https://it.scribd.com/document/558107312/The-Impact-of-Science-on-Society-by-Bertrand-Russell |url-status=dead }}</ref> stating as an example: {{blockquote| In future such failures are not likely to occur where there is dictatorship. Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. Even if all are miserable, all will believe themselves happy, because the government will tell them that they are so.}}