Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, advocate for social reform, and pacifist.
Russell was an influential philosopher and commentator. He led the British “revolt against Idealism”, was a founder of analytic philosophy and (with Alfred North Whitehead) wrote Principia Mathematica. His works have had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics and analytic philosophy. He was a prominent anti-war activist, championing free trade between nations and anti-imperialism.
Russell was imprisoned for his pacifist activism during World War I, campaigned against Adolf Hitler, for nuclear disarmament, criticised Soviet totalitarianism and the USA war in Vietnam.
In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”.
The above painting by Derren is available on the art site.
Bertrand Russell – wikipedia.
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I have the ‘History of Western Philosophy’ as an audiobook on my iPod (its HUGE) but slowly battling my way through it! Its awesome.
A childhood hero of mine, and one of the inspirations for Professor Yaffle (yes, really). BTW the headline misspells his surname – two L’s…
Msg from Abeo: Fixed
I think that is one of Derren’s finest paintings. The attention to detail is superb. Wonderful.
LC x
A beacon for the kind of open minds that autonomous home education can nurture. I really hope the current Bill doesn’t mean that we never see such an independent and creative thinker in the UK again, but fear the worst.
Love BR. His book ‘The Impact of Science On Society’ features heavily in my book ‘Anomaly’. Thanks for posting this…
Ooops, video is gone already.
May I offer this?
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/01/who_gave_this_new_atheist_a_ti.php
And don’t forget his absolutely superb article “On the Value of Skepticism“. It’s a must read.
A fantastically detailed painting…why are his eyes RED?!?!
That painting was horrifying when I first glanced at it.
Let’s not forget Russell’s most important work: In Praise of Idleness. I recommend reading it. Now. But later is fine too.
@Rachel His eyes are red because of the intergalactic skunk he had to smoke to power that nuclear furnace of neurons he collected in his skull. Was always a bit of a time traveler was our Bertie.
We heart Bertrand Russell in my philosophy and ethics class! Any man who can combine the big questions in life with talk about teapots and socks so beautifully deserves respect.
Loved his works, ‘Why I am Not a Christian’. (Was relieved by it after studying enough Plato to almost drive me to insanity!)