By: Bertrand Russell Publisher: Book Jungle Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Book Jungle Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 120 Publication Date: July 28, 2008
Product Description: Bertrand Russell, a Welsh atheist, wore many hats including philosopher, historical, logician, mathematician, and social reformist. In 1950 he won a Nobel Prize in literature for his humanitarianism and freedom of thought. In this book Russell attempts to give an easily accessible look at problems in philosophy. He looks at knowledge rather than metaphysics. Russell discussed important theories proposed by many famous philosophers.
A lot to Chew On I am just an occaisional, informal reader of philosophy. I would rate this book two stars, less because of it's content and perhaps more because of my own shortcomings. I found many of the chapters verbose and hard to follow. To be honest, I've found that I am more interested in short snippets of what major philosophers had to say rather than delve into their thoughts myself. When I try, I often find I don't have the attention span to follow what an author is saying, and that is what I found here. Having said that, I will add that I found the last two chapters more interesting. All in all, I would say this book is more tuned to serious lovers of philosophical questions than a casual reader such as myself.
The hobo philosopher Bertrand has written on many different subjects and many of his books can often appeal to the general reader. This book is for those interested in philosophy and who enjoy esoteric arguments. It is for the person with an average philosophical interest and not necessarily the Ph.D. candidate. Bertrand tells us that if we wish to become philosophers we must be willing to tackle the absurd. Obviously! A lot of time is spent on Bishop Berleley, Plato and Descartes and idealism - we are all imaging matter; matter is a figment of our imagination; it's all in your head. The author finally assures us that there is something in the universe besides our comprehension of ourselves and our dreams. There does seem to be "reality" or matter even if it is perceived differently or inadequately by each of us. Bertrand finally states that Berkeley's notion that the objects apprehended must be mental has no validity whatsoever. One chapter deals with those that think that we can know more than we actually can know and with those who think, on the other hand, that nothing is knowable - Hegel in the first case and Hume in the latter. Finally we come to the nature of philosophy and its value. Philosophy deals in questioning the unknown and once the unknown becomes known it is no longer called philosophy but science. So philosophy has a rather nebulous list of achievements. Bertrand closes this book with this final paragraph: "Thus to sum up our discussion of the value of philosophy; 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; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good." Well that, of course, states the case better than anything that I could say but for my part I must offer something. I have always been attracted to philosophy because the philosophers were asking the questions that seemed important to me and by reading and studying their answers I always felt that I was learning how to think and reason intelligently and logically. By being able to think intelligently and logically I felt that I was then better equipped to solve the problems of life - my life in particular.
Book Purchase Everything was as expected. No surprises on the timing of delivery or the quality of the Russell book.
Nice overview This was a really nice overview of various topics for a course I have. It's very concise and well organized and is written in language that is easy to understand.
Exceptional insight Bertrand Russell is one of my favorite philosophers to read and this book was the one that started it all. Russell's analysis of man's epistemological limitations is truly enlightening. A theory of everything, origin of the universe, teleology- concepts that have galvanized human beings for ages are extrapolated from a new perspective by Russell. The first few chapters that explain data processing by the human mind, perceptions and reality as experienced by the senses is of utmost importance to truly understand what Russell is saying. Lucid imagery and explanations are abundant in Russell's prose. By the time I was done with this book, I was left wondering if the title 'Problems with human perception' would have been more appropriate.
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