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Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell, (1872, Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales—Feb. 2, 1970,
Penrhyndeudraeth, Merioneth), British philosopher, logician, and social reformer,
founding figure in the analytic movement in Anglo-American philosophy, and recipient
of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Russell’s contributions to logic, epistemology,
and the philosophy of mathematics established him as one of the foremost philosophers
of the 20th century. To the general public, however, he was best known as a campaigner
for peace and as a popular writer on social, political, and moral subjects. During a long,
productive, and often turbulent life, he published more than 70 books and about 2,000
articles, married four times, became involved in innumerable public controversies, and
was honoured and reviled in almost equal measure throughout the world.
Inspired by the work of the mathematicians whom he so greatly admired,
Russell conceived the idea of demonstrating that mathematics not only had logically
rigorous foundations but also that it was in its entirety nothing but logic. The
philosophical case for this point of view—subsequently known as logicism—was stated
at length in The Principles of Mathematics (1903). There Russell argued that the whole
of mathematics could be derived from a few simple axioms that made no use of
specifically mathematical notions, such as number and square root, but were rather
confined to purely logical notions, such as proposition and class. In this way not only
could the truths of mathematics be shown to be immune from doubt, they could also be
freed from any taint of subjectivity, such as the subjectivity involved in Russell’s earlier
Kantian view that geometry describes the structure of spatial intuition.
Russell took an essentially Platonic view of logic. Indeed, the passion with
which Russell pursued the project of deriving mathematics from logic owed a great deal
to what he would later somewhat scornfully describe as a “kind of mathematical
mysticism.” As he put it in his more disillusioned old age, “I disliked the real world and
sought refuge in a timeless world, without change or decay or the will-o’-the-wisp of
progress.” Russell, like Pythagoras and Plato before him, believed that there existed a
realm of truth that, unlike the messy contingencies of the everyday world of senseexperience, was immutable and eternal. This realm was accessible only to reason, and
knowledge of it, once attained, was not tentative or corrigible but certain and
irrefutable. Logic, for Russell, was the means by which one gained access to this realm,
and thus the pursuit of logic was, for him, the highest and noblest enterprise life had to
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offer.
From 1938 to 1944 Russell lived in the United States, where he taught at
Chicago and the University of California at Los Angeles. On the brink of financial ruin,
he secured a job teaching the history of philosophy at the Barnes Foundation in
Philadelphia. In 1944 Russell returned to Trinity College, where he lectured on the ideas
that formed his last major contribution to philosophy, Human Knowledge: Its Scope
and Limits (1948). During this period Russell, for once in his life, found favour with
the authorities, and he received many official tributes, including the Order of Merit in
1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.
Russell devoted his last years to campaigning against nuclear weapons and the
Vietnam War, assuming once again the role of gadfly of the establishment. The sight
of Russell in extreme old age taking his place in mass demonstrations and inciting
young people to civil disobedience through his passionate rhetoric inspired a new
generation of admirers. When he died in 1970 Russell was far better known as an
antiwar campaigner than as a philosopher of mathematics. In retrospect, however, it is
possible to see that it is for his great contributions to philosophy that he will be
remembered and honoured by future generations.
Bertrand Russell
a. was born in the UK
b. died of lung cancer
c. received a Pulitzer Prize
d. wrote more than 50 books
e. nothing of the above
Russell
a. was a Nobel laureate
b. lived in the US for more than twenty tears
c. married twice
d. was Albert Einstein’s close friend
e. all the above
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Most people know Russell:
a. as a prominent mathematician
b. as a campaigner for peace
c. as a renown poet
d. as a notorious bisexual
e. nothing of the above
For Russell:
a. mathematics was the basis for logic
b. mathematics was nothing but logic
c. mathematics could be derived by Physics
d. logical notions, such as number and square root, but were rather confined to
purely mathematical notions
e. nothing of the above
Russell
a. followed a Cartesian path of logic
b. rejected Aristotle’s view on Mathematics
c. adopted a Platonic view of logic
d. believed that logic and mathematics are related to religion
e. all the above
For Russell, the highest and noblest enterprise life had to offer was:
a. the pursuit of happiness
b. the pursuit of logic
c. the search for the ultimate truth
d. the search for the meaning of existence
e. all the above
f. nothing of the above
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The Principles of Mathematics
a. was published by Routledge
b. became a best-seller
c. was published in the early 1900s
d. was forbidden in the US
e. all the above
f. nothing of the above
Russell
a. lived in the UK during WWII
b. taught in the Harvard for more than ten years
c. moved to the US during WWII
d. taught the history of ideas at the Barnes Foundation
e. nothing of the above
Pythagoras
a. lived in Smyrna
b. coined the term ‘logic’
c. believed that there existed a realm of truth that was eternal
d. died in 480 BC
e. was Plato’s student
f. nothing of the above
g. all the above
Russell
a. favored Marxist ideas
b. supported the Vietnam War
c. visited the USSR in 1961
d. fought against the Axis during WWII
e. nothing of the above
f. all the above
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Give the term
1st – 2nd paragraphs
The study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions
and foundations, and its extent and validity.
The study of the measurement, properties, and relationships of quantities and sets, using
numbers and symbols.
A self-evident or universally recognized truth.
The philosophical theory that all of mathematics can be deduced from logic.
A divisor of a quantity that when squared gives the quantity.
The mathematics of the properties, measurement, and relationships of points, lines,
angles, surfaces, and solids.
In paragraph 2, the word rigorous could be replaced by:
a. demanding
b. rigid
c. precise
d. all the above
In paragraph 2, the word taint is near the synonym of:
a. stain
b. doubt
c. vision
d. value
e. nothing of the above
f. all the above
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Glossary
ρεύμα
Ρ. ιονισμού
Ρ. αγωγιμότητας
Ρ. καθόδου
Αμετάβλητο Ρ.
Μονοφασικό Ρ.
Ρ. γραμμής
Πολυφασικό Ρ.
Ρ. διαρροής
Συνεχές Ρ.
Διφασικό Ρ.
Τριφασικό Ρ.
Ρ. εκπομπής
Ρ. Υψηλής Τάσης
Εναλλασσόμενο
Ρ.
Ρ.
Τάσης
ροπή
Ρ. κάμψης
Ρ. αδράνειας
Ρ. Κλίσης
Φυγόκεντρος Ρ.
Μαγνητική
Χαμηλής
ροή
σταθερού
ρεύματος
Ρ. ανατροπής
Ρ.περιστροφής
Ρ. αντίστασης
Ρύθμιση
Ρ. απόσβεσης
Σειρά
Ρ. δύναμης
Αποκλίνουσα Σ.
Ρ. επαναφοράς
Σ.ανάφλεξης
Πεπερασμένη Σ.
Σημείο
Αρμονική Σ.
Σ. αδράνειας
Συγκλίνουσα Σ.
Σ.βρασμού
Ταλαντούμενη Σ.
Σ. εξάτμισης
Σ.
Σ. πήξης
αποσυναρμολόγησης
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