Historical Figures Codexery

Bertrand Russell

English philosopher, logician, and social reformer

Bertrand Russell was a prominent logician and founder of analytic philosophy in the early 20th century.[1] Russell died on February 2, 1970.[2]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Bertrand Arthur William Russell
Born
18 May 1872
Died
2 February 1970
Place of death
Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, Wales
Children
3, including John, 4th Earl Russell and Conrad, 5th Earl Russell
Education
Trinity College, Cambridge (BA, 1893)
Era
20th-century philosophy
Region
Western philosophy

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

After his parents died, Russell and his brother were raised by their paternal grandparents at Pembroke Lodge.[3] He collaborated with Alfred North Whitehead on Principia Mathematica, a major work in classical logic.[4] Russell founded the experimental Beacon Hill School in 1927 with his wife Dora.[5] He became the 3rd Earl Russell after his elder brother's death in 1931.[6]

Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born on 18 May 1872 at Trelleck.[2] His father, Lord Amberley, asked John Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather, and both of Russell's parents were early advocates of birth control.[7][8] After winning a scholarship, Russell began studies at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1890, graduated as seventh Wrangler in mathematics in 1893, and became a Fellow in philosophy in 1895.[9][10] In August 1920, Russell travelled to Russia as part of an official British government delegation to investigate the effects of the Russian Revolution, and subsequently wrote a book titled The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism about his experiences on that trip.[11][12]

What the cited sources add

The Nobel Foundation biography states that Russell visited Russia in 1920 and went to China to lecture on philosophy at Peking University.[2] The same source confirms he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1908 and re-elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1944.[2] Hardy also wrote that Russell's Tarner Lectures became the basis for his well-received book The Analysis of Matter.[13] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry describes Russell's theory of descriptions as a powerful tool for epistemological and metaphysical projects.[14]

That entry also notes that Russell proposed ordinary proper names could be construed as definite descriptions.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Bertrand Russell" , 1 May 2003. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. The Nobel Foundation (1950). Bertrand Russell: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950 . Retrieved 11 June 2007.. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brink, "Death, Depression and Creativity: A Psychobiological Approach to Bertrand Russell", Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 1982, p. 93; Monk, "Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, 1872–1921", Simon and Schuster, 1996 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ludlow, "Descriptions, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A Conversation with Bertrand Russell (1952)" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kranz, D. (2011): "Barry Stevens: Leben Gestalten" . In: Gestaltkritik, 2/2011, p. 4–11.; Stevens, B. (1970): Don't Push the River. Lafayette, Cal. (Real People Press), p. 26.; Gorham, D. (2005): "Dora and Bertrand Russell and Beacon Hill School", in: Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, n.s. 25, (summer 2005), p. 39–76, p; Spadoni, C. (1981): "Recent Acquisitions: Correspondence", in: Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, Vol 1, Iss. 1, Article 6, 43–67. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paul, "Bertrand Russell: The Man and His Ideas"; "Bertrand Russell Is Dead; British Philosopher, 97", The New York Times, 3 February 1970; "Douglas A. Spalding", Nature, 8 November 1877 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Russell, Bertrand and Perkins, Ray (ed.) Yours faithfully, Bertrand Russell. Open Court Publishing, 2001, p. 4. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O'Connor, "Alfred North Whitehead", School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland, October 2003; Griffin, "Russell's Mathematical Education", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 1990, p. 51–71 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)", Farlex; Russell, "Soviet Russia 1920", 31 July 1920, p. 121–125; Russell, "Lenin, Trotzky and Gorky", The Nation, 20 February 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Russell, Bertrand The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism by Bertrand Russell , 1920 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Bertrand Russell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hardy, "Bertrand Russell & Trinity: A college controversy of the last war", Cambridge University Press, 1970 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Ludlow, "Descriptions, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)". facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Bertrand Russell (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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