Bertrand Russell

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2012

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Born in 1872 into an aristocratic family, Russell is widely regarded as one of the founders of Analytic philosophy, which is today the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world. In his important book The Principles of Mathematics, he sought to reduce mathematics to logic. Its revolutionary ideas include Russell's Paradox, a problem which inspired Ludwig Wittgenstein to pursue philosophy. Russell's most significant and famous idea, the theory of descriptions, had profound consequences for the discipline.

In addition to his academic work, Russell played an active role in many social and political campaigns. He supported women's suffrage, was imprisoned for his pacifism during World War I and was a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He wrote a number of books aimed at the general public, including The History of Western Philosophy which became enormously popular, and in 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russell's many appearances on the BBC also helped to promote the public understanding of ideas.

With:

AC Grayling Master of the New College of the Humanities and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford

Mike Beaney Professor of Philosophy at the University of York

Hilary Greaves Lecturer in Philosophy and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
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0:36.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:38.7	For more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co. UK slash radio for. I hope you enjoy
0:45.9	the program. Hello on the last day of the year 1900 an ecstatic British academic
0:51.3	wrote to a friend I invented a new subject which turned out to be all mathematics for the first time treated in its essence
0:58.4	The academic was Bertrand Russell and he was referring to the draft of his book The Principles of Mathematics which had just completed.
1:05.0	In this work Russell sought to reduce mathematics to logic and later he was to describe it as a highest point of his life in his words
1:12.0	an intellectual honeymoon such as I've never experienced
1:15.2	before or since.
1:16.9	Burton Russell's impact on philosophy was immense and far-reaching.
1:20.6	He was a key founder of analytic philosophy today the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world.
1:27.0	His theory of descriptions is one the most famous and important ideas in 20th century philosophy,
1:32.0	but his influence extended beyond academia.
1:34.0	His many appearances on the BBC made him a well-known figure and he wrote several books aimed successfully at the general public.
1:41.0	With me to discuss the ideas in life, Bertrand Russell, a Professor
1:44.8	A.C. Graling, Master of the New College of the Humanities, and a supernumerary fellow of
1:49.4	St. Hans College Oxford, Mike Beeney, Professor of Philosophy at the University of York, and
	...

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