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Bertrand Russell
(18 May 1872 - 2 Feb 1970)
Welsh mathematician, logician and philosopher known for his work in mathematical logic, but was also active in social and political campaigns, advocating pacifism and nuclear disarmament.
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Bertrand Russell Quotes on Philosopher (6 quotes)
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>> Click for 189 Science Quotes by Bertrand Russell
>> Click for Bertrand Russell Quotes on | Achievement | Aristotle | Arithmetic | Belief | Certainty | Difference | Error | Fact | Knowledge | Law | Life | Logic | Mathematics | Method | Mind | Mistake | Observation | Philosophy | Power | Science | Science And Religion | Scientific Method | Truth |
A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress—though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.
— Bertrand Russell
From 'Current Tendencies', delivered as the first of a series of Lowell Lectures in Boston (Mar 1914). Collected in Our Knowledge of the External World (1914), 12.
An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other human being, might conclude that it is the nature of human beings to grow continually taller and wiser in an indefinite progress towards perfection; and this generalization would be just as well founded as the generalization which evolutionists base upon the previous history of this planet.
— Bertrand Russell
Scientific Method in Philosophy (1914), 12.
Aristotle, in spite of his reputation, is full of absurdities. He says that children should be conceived in the Winter, when the wind is in the North, and that if people marry too young the children will be female. He tells us that the blood of females is blacker then that of males; that the pig is the only animal liable to measles; that an elephant suffering from insomnia should have its shoulders rubbed with salt, olive-oil, and warm water; that women have fewer teeth than men, and so on. Nevertheless, he is considered by the great majority of philosophers a paragon of wisdom.
— Bertrand Russell
From An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1937, 1943), 19. Collected in The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (2009), 63.
Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never.
— Bertrand Russell
Uncertain attribution. Often seen, but Webmaster has not yet found this wording in a primary source, and remains uncertain that this is an actual Russell quote. It is included here to provide this caution. Contact Webmaster if you have more information.
If any philosopher had been asked for a definition of infinity, he might have produced some unintelligible rigmarole, but he would certainly not have been able to give a definition that had any meaning at all.
— Bertrand Russell
…...
Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoan to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.
— Bertrand Russell
From Herbert Spencer lecture delivered at Oxford (1914) 'On Scientific Method in Philosophy', collected in Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays (1919), 106.
See also:
- 18 May - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Russell's birth.
- Bertrand Russell - context of quote “A process which led from the amoeba to man” - Medium image (500 x 350 px)
- Bertrand Russell - context of quote “A process which led from the amoeba to man” - Large image (800 x 600 px)