Unpopular Essays-Bertrand Russel

Essay

 

Unpopular Essays

Bertrand Russel

 

This is a collection of essays by Bertrand Russel, written over a period of fifteen years beginning 1930. According to Russel most of these were written to counter the rising dogmatism whether of the right or the left.

 

Bertrand Russel born in the late Victorian era lived a long life straddling the last two centuries. A giant of a public intellectual, he was a polymath: a philosopher, a logician, a mathematician and a public thinker of unmatched intellect. He began writing essays on popular themes to earn a little money, but his skills as a writer of stunningly lucid prose, his deep grasp of the subject and his capability to simplify most profound philosophical thoughts for the benefit of layman earned him immense popularity amongst lay readers all over the world.

 

In preface to this book he informs us that critics once took him to task for one of his books which they found a little difficult. This according to them was contrary to what he had claimed in the book that -Philosophy proper deals with matters of interest to the general educated public. Therefore, not wishing to expose himself to similar ridicule again he admits that certain sentences in the present book are such that an unusually stupid child of ten might find a little puzzling. On this ground he does not claim that these essays are popular and if not popular then unpopular. Humour aside, some of these essays will surely rankle certain stiff-necked academicians and reactionaries of any stream, whether politics or philosophy. Through all these essays Russel celebrates and professes a spirit of freedom, liberty and free enquiry unencumbered by dogma of any kind. In an essay Philosophy and Politics, he explains how philosophers through the ages tried to evolve a philosophical thought that promoted and sanctioned the preferred political system patronised by the philosopher. In the essay Philosophy for Layman Russel offers his opinion how study of philosophy will help young men and women to add more value to their lives and be a better citizen. He avers that philosophy will broaden the scope of their thoughts, will enable them to see themselves in the context of larger world and universe. It will enable them to see the whole history of man in relation to the anatomical cosmos and thus may allay much anxiety and apprehension about life and death, allowing mankind much needed serenity. Bertrand Russel was a fearless pacifist even in the era of First World War when jingoism and acutely heightened nationalism dominated public sentiments. He expounds the need of a World Government in the essay The Future of Mankind. He informs in the beginning of the essay Philosophy’s Ulterior Motives that according to F.H. Bradley, metaphysics ‘is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct’. He goes on to say that though philosophy has been defined as ‘an unusually obstinate attempt to think clearly’ according to him it rather is ‘an unusually ingenious attempt to think fallaciously’. This explains his main contention in this essay where he strongly advocates role of empirical methods in philosophy. In the Superior Virtue of the Oppressed he exposes the condescending attitude of intellectuals to eulogize upon imaginary virtues of the marginalised and oppressed class of society, whether poor, savages, proletariats or its female members. In a long essay An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish he discusses the irrational thoughts of human beings since the dawn of civilisation. In a thought-provoking essay, The Function of Teacher he talks about what he considers the true role of a teacher in society. According to him this is to instil in young the values of liberty, untrammelled thinking, tolerance and openness of mind.

 

These essays are written in Russel’s trademark elegant, simple, concise and clear prose. His wit flows unhindered through all of them. Like the title of the book, essays themselves are designed to provoke, especially the younger members of our society, to question the dogma in our knowledge. It’s tragic that even after more than eight decades these essays still seem timely, in a world that is increasingly being mired in the frenzy of intolerance, bigotry, fanaticism and xenophobia.


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