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Loading... The Problems of Philosophy (edition 1985)by Bertrand Russell
Work detailsThe Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
None. Russell, Bertrand (1959). The Problems of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press.   tthrall | Apr 24, 2013 |  A mis titled book - rather, Some Problems of Philosophy of the late 19th and early 20th century, Many of Which Have Been Addressed. Discusses epistemology, absolutes, a priori and a posteriori knowledge, truth and falsehood. It does these very well. A quite reasonable introduction on basic problems. But it's still very interesting, and Russell is one of the most readable of the philosophers. Dare I say it, his style actually flows well. (  ) HadriantheBlind | Mar 30, 2013 | I had some issues really getting into this book. Maybe it's just that it was a dry writing style, or maybe it's that it doesn't seem to be a good starting point for someone who wants to learn about philosophy. But it took many weeks to get through what is actually a short book. It does have some good points, like at the end (at least in the Amazon free e-book) recommending other philosophers to read. And it tries to tie in analogies to history and to Othello (which I also haven't read.) In college I took a logic class, and despised it. Too much emphasis on the fallacy of "I have a cat, it is grey, therefore all cats are grey" thing. You'll see that in here too, although in a cat-free setting. Lots of people think this guy is almost Godlike, but it's hard for me to agree yet. In time, I'll probably read another Russell text, but not anytime soon. (  ) phlll | Feb 22, 2013 | Bertrand Russell sets out to explain why philosophy is important. He's probably right, but I didn't find it very interesting. Relatively accessible, but there are times where he states that we can take for granted something I wasn't so sure we could, but maybe that's because I know about postmodernism. He also has a tendency to be a bit dismissive of positions as obviously mistaken just after he's told you someone presumably quite smart holds that position. There's quite a lot of discussions of tables. (The thing you put your dinner on, not the math kind.) Stevil2001 | Oct 3, 2011 | http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1248048.html This is an excellent short guide to philosophy. I am not widely enough read in the subject to know to what extent Russell is pushing his own views rather than simply giving an overview of the subject, but he succeeded in persuading me that the questions of Berkeley, Hume, Kant, et al are not stupid, but very interesting and part of the gateway to opening up one's thoughts about the world as a whole. I found myself thinking of particular resonances with my political work, and the very nature of knowledge. He has a great final chapter about why this is all worthwhile, online here, but this was my favourite paragraph (with apologies for the sexist language of 1912): The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find, as we saw in our opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect. I particularly love that line about freeing one's thoughts from the "tyranny of custom". Good stuff. (  )2  nwhyte | Jun 17, 2009 | no reviews | add a review
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