bertrand russell...

[content]

has anyone read him? may be my favorite philosopher. logic is the way to go I guess. Why I Am Not a Christian should be required reading in elementary school. really fuck up the system

[Lady E]

was he an empiricist?

[Ava]

i like his paradox

[content]

was he an empiricist?

yeah

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell/

[Spandex]

Must read some... his name always comes up in contexts that interest me.

[mdk]

Originally posted by Spandex
Must read some... his name always comes up in contexts that interest me.

yeah, was talking to this dude at the weekend about crazy maths things and russell came up...think he wrote some interesting stuff about the axioms of mathematics..

maybe related to godel and the idea that in any mathematical system you can construct a statement that you cant prove within that system...

but i was a bit worse for wear, so i dont remember much else :)

[Spandex]

Yeh.. was just reading about the Russell Paradox... "the set of all sets that don't contain themselves" ... coincidentally was reading some Godel related stuff the other day too. There's a link to the Russell Paradox on that URL that content posted.

[Hagbard]

On November 20, 1948, in a public speech at Westminster School, addressing a gathering arranged by the New Commonwealth, Russell shocked some observers by suggesting that a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union is justified. Russell argued that war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed inevitable, so it would be a humanitarian gesture to get it over with quickly and have the United States in the dominant position. Currently, Russell argued, humanity could survive such a war, whereas a full nuclear war after both sides had manufactured large stockpiles of more destructive weapons was likely to result in the extinction of the human race. Russell later relented from this stance, instead arguing for mutual disarmament by the nuclear powers.

Sometimes Logic can go too far... though maybe he was right, we'll never know...

[r_v]

i think i've read 'unpopular essays' before. i'm currently working my was through his history of western philosophy. it's interesting enough but i find his writing style very dry. i'd probably enjoy his maths writings a lot more. any good recommendations?