Bertrand Arthur William Russell(1872-1970)

By Jessica Gantick and

Irving Martínez

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a

foolish thing"

Background Born in, Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire,

Wales 1972

Family dies 1774 (mom and sister) 1776 (dad)

Raised by grandparents (grandmother mostly)

Grandmother overruled Bertrand’s parents’ wishes for him to be agnostic.

He did not attend school, was tutored, and became fluent in French and German. [1]

Grief

Grieving over his family’s death, he became suicidal.

• Wasn’t happy with his life at all. [2]

Turning Point

Frank (his brother) introduced him to Euclid1) Greek Mathematician; “Father of Geometry”

2) Changed Bertrands views on life.

3) Also turned by the work of Percy Besshe Shelley, a romantic poet.

Also intrigued by the the religious views of christianity. [3]

The College Life

A. Earned a scholarship to attend The Trinity College in Cambridge.a. He read for the mathematical Tripos:

① It was the “Senate House Examination” consisted of 16 papers spread over 8 days and a total of 211 questions.

B. In 1893, he got his B.A in Mathematics with high honors

C. In 1894, he went back for The Moral Sciences Tripos.

His Fair Sharea) He had a total of four wives.

1894- Marries Alyssa(Alys) Whitall Pearshall Smith Separated in 1911, divorced in 1921

1921- Marries Dora Black Had a son, John Russell, 1921, and a daughter, Kate Russell, in

1923. Together they opened Beacon Hill School

o An experimental school taught children to leave behind superstions and irrational views that were to be left in the past.

In 1935, They get a divorce. In 1936, marries Patricia (Peter) Helen Spence

Had a son named Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell Separated in 1949

1952- marries Edith Finch His favorite wife

Political Campaigns

I. Elected to the royal society in 1908

II. Free trade

III. Women’s Suffrage

IV. Anti- war and anti- nuclear protestsi. Spent six months in prison, and having bee

arrested on two separate occasions for the same things [B1]

Major Publications

A. The Principles of Mathematics – A mathematical logic book describing how mathematics could be deduced from very few principles and proving to be a great contribution to the cause of logicism. [4]

B. Principia Mathematica – This three-volume work is an attempt to derive all mathematical truths from a well-defined set of axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic. [5]

C. “On Denoting” – It introduces definite and indefinite descriptions, formulates descriptivism with regard to proper names, and characterizes proper names as "disguised" or "abbreviated" definite descriptions. [6]

Russell's Paradox [7].

Russell Politics 2301 Russell was never a complete pacifist. He resisted specific wars on the

grounds that they were contrary to the interests of civilization, and thus immoral.

In the years leading to World War II, he supported the policy of appeasement; but by 1940 he acknowledged that in order to preserve democracy, Hitler had to be defeated.

He pointed out that at the time the Soviet Union did not yet possess a nuclear capability but that it would very soon do so, after which all history made it clear that sooner or later there would be a nuclear war between the two superpowers that would be infinitely more devastating than either of the two world wars through which he had lived. The only sure way of preventing this Armageddon, he concluded with remorseless if unpalatable logic, was for America to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union before it acquired the bomb: after that it would be too late. [8]

In a nutshell, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament. [9]

Several of Russell's prestigious awards are here displayed together. Among them, the Order of Merit (top left) and the related certificate signed by King George VI (bottom left), the Nobel Prize for Literature (top centre) and the accompanying medallion (at base of certificate). See below for detailed views of these awards. [10]

Nobel Prize of

Literature“In recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.“ [11]

Glossary Logicism._ The doctrine, developed chiefly by Gottlob

Frege and Bertrand Russell, that mathematics can be reduced to logic.

Axiom._ A proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof.

Rule of Inference._ The act of drawing a conclusion based on the form of premises interpreted as a function.

Appeasement._ A diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power.

Totalitarianism._ A political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.

“Three passions, simple but

overwhelmingly strong, have governed my

life: the longing for love, the search for

knowledge, and unbearable pity for the

suffering of mankind”

Bibliography1. http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Philosophy/

bertrandRussell.html

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

3. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html

4. http://fair-use.org/bertrand-russell/the-principles-of-mathematics/

5. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/principia-mathematica/#SOPM

6. http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Russell/denoting/

7. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/selfreference/russell.shtml

8. http://www.economist.com/node/699582/print?Story_ID=699582

9. http://russell.mcmaster.ca/~bertrand/

10. http://russell.mcmaster.ca/~bertrand/awards.html

11. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html