Philosophy is the study of examining and thinking about questionable ethical problems and/or generally accepted certainties. Philosophy aims at knowledge that combines a variety of academic fields as well as convictions, prejudices and beliefs.
What is Russell’s essay about? Present Russell’s position in your own words.
Bertrand Russell’s essay addresses many issues concerning philosophy. In the writing, he states philosophy’s nature, value, and criticisms. The essay explains these aspects of the study of philosophy in relatively different ways. The main idea for establishing value in his essay is by explaining how it is best obtained, and its effect on other people. The essay continues with his criticisms of those who opposed philosophy and live their lives based on concrete, solid facts. He addresses these figures as the ‘practical men’. Almost as an opposition to the practical man is the idea of the instinctive man, whose interests are natural and private. The foundation of philosophy is stated in his essay by differentiating philosophy from science (science has absolute answer, philosophy doesn’t), and he defines the nature of learning philosophy. Overall, Russell’s position in this essay is that philosophy is worth studying and is beneficial for people through philosophical contemplation and questions.
Outline the principle arguments made in support of Russell’s opinion. How is each argument supported by facts or evidence?
In the conclusion of the essay Russell outlines, clarifies and summarizes his primary arguments in the support of his thesis. Unfortunately, he doesn’t give many evidence that is factual, yet that is the nature of the subject, he is a philosopher and these are only theories. The position ...
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...philosophy would be useful. Explain.
Situations that philosophy would be useful in my life are to do with important decisions that informing an opinion about would be very helpful such as career options, place to live, and motivational use. To form a philosophy would be very helpful for me when deciding a career because without a preference I would have the same path in life as everyone else or none at all. In deciding on a place to live when I’m older a philosophy will be crucial in deciding what I find is ideal in a living space and location. To gather motivation you have to have goals and to have a philosophy such as ‘you should do what you have to do now, to do what you want later.’ Philosophy is probably the most important in the times for me to make the most important decisions in your life. It will separate me from the rest, and define my originality.
...analyzed retains its significance. However, there are a number of objections to Russell not covered in this paper and it seems overall truth-value judgments are a subject that still open for debate.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell was a British Philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian and social critic. Russell was a prominent anti-war activist, he championed anti-imperialism and went to prison for his pacifism during World War I. Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticized Stalinist totalitarianism, and he also attacked the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. Bertrand Russell was the recipient of countless awards for excellence during his long lifetime (1872-1970), including the Nobel Prize for literature, which he won in 1950. The range of his critical inquiry is without parallel in contemporary Western culture. Russell described himself as an agnostic, "speaking to a purely philosophical audience", but as an atheist "speaking popularly", on the basis that he could not disprove the Christian God similar to the way that he could not disprove the Olympic Gods either. For most of his adult life Russell maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people. . In the article the author explains to the reader and stresses upon the opinion as to why the existence of god is a false concept and thus concludes that there is no point in believing in a supreme ruler. The author expressively portrays his argument to the reader through the usage of strong progression of ideas supported with examples, a criticizing yet neutral tone with emotional appeal and rhetorical questions posed at the author with good development of language.
Bertrand Russell, a renowned analytic philosopher, argues about the existence of God in his article “Is there a God?” (1952). For most of his life Russell held the opinion that religions are meant to instill distress and helplessness into people’s minds and belief in religion is the major cause for all the deadly conflicts that have occurred in the past. In his article “Is there a God?” Russell discusses how theologians have been presenting their arguments to prove God’s existence and then gives his own reflection on their thoughts. Questioning God’s existence and giving arguments that refute such beliefs could turn into a controversial discussion and many theists, who have blind faith in God’s existence, find such arguments offensive to their beliefs. Taking the sensitive nature of this subject into account, Russell’s article does not display any offensive characteristics and the way he dealt with this issue by taking a neutral stance should be appreciated. Most of his arguments are remarkably convincing, even for theists, and make the reader think about God’s existence rationally. His way of dealing with the issue through rational means is what makes this article suitable for both theists and atheists. However, at some instances, Russell’s bias towards atheism can be observed by pointing out fallacies in his arguments.
This refutation paper is well-written because it breaks down Coleman’s arguments in a reasonable and organized way and then offers different forms of refutations. In the intro paragraph, a thesis is given and the main points of the essay are laid out. From there, I begin each paragraph, stating the main idea, offering Coleman’s opinion, then refuting it in one of a few ways. Because of this various use of refutation styles, clear layout, and simple
The views which are put forward in this treatise derive from the doctrines of Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein.
In the above essay, I presented the opposing views of William Paley and Bertrand Russell on the design argument. I then compared and contrasted the arguments showing that the arguments mostly differed. Finally, I evaluated the two philosophers' arguments and concluded that Paley's design argument was stronger than Russell's argument against it because Paley developed the support for his claims more thoroughly.
Bertrand Russell was born in 1872 in Wales, England as a member of a famous British family. He received a degree from Trinity Cambridge College with honors in Mathematics and Moral Sciences. His most famous works included the subjects of logic and philosophy, which were deeply rooted in his mathematics background. In fact, Russell is probably the most highly regarded and most read English-speaking philosopher of our time. Russell was not merely an intellectual, but also a political and social activist, writing many papers and pamphlets speaking out against war, nuclear technology and Fascism. Russell was, in fact, jailed for writing a pacifist pamphlet speaking out against England's participation in the First World War. Russell was also known as often vehemently speaking out against organized religion, especially that of Christianity. He wrote papers such as, "Why I am not a Christian" and "A Free Man's Worship." He also regarded marriage and sex in way uncommon for those times, and proposed that there was really nothing wrong with college-aged adults having childless encounters before marriage, but still held that marriage is "the best and most important relation that can exist between human beings" . It seems that Russell's theories on marriage and sex may have caused the protest that led to be him being dismissed after an appointment to City College in New York City. Russell, along with his fellow Cambridge alumnus G. E. Moore, were at the forefront of the philosophical movement leading towards anal...
This essay is written to introduce the Russell’s Theory on Definite Description. The main content of this essay including: the definition of definite description, the puzzles concerning definite description, Russell’s Theory on Definite Description, how this theory solves the puzzles, Strawson’s objection to this theory, my evaluation on the convincingness of Strawson’s objection and my evaluation on the convincingness of Russell’s Theory of Definite Description.
This course has sparked in me a fresh curiosity for the intellectual life. It has brought me to ponder great questions that have been part of human history and the human condition. Examples of such questions include, “Does the human soul exist beyond our bodies,” “Does God exist,” “What is knowledge,” “What kind of world do we live in?” But the question from this course that I take to be the most important, as it dictates how we approach questions such as those, and is supremely relevant to everyday life, is “How should one live their life?” This question is possibly the most essential to the human race, since how we answer this question determines our mindset when answering the commonly asked question, about how philosophy applies to everyday
D) Philosophy can be defined as a search for an ultimate Truth, one that is universal to all of humanity. It uses logic and reasoning to create arguments, and these arguments are then analyzed to prove whether or not they are tenable.
The word “philosophy” comes from the Ancient Greek word “philosophia”, which means “love of wisdom.” In history, there were thousands and hundreds of philosophers in the world, such as John Locke, George Berkeley. etc. However, why do those people to learn philosophy? Is it worth our time to study it and why? A philosopher named Bertrand Russell shows his answers in chapter XV of his book “The Problems of Philosophy”. He states that philosophy is worth to spend our time to learn it because philosophy can help people learn new knowledge, find new sciences, frees people’s mind and give them pleasure, affect how people think and react what happen to them.
These observations lead to Russell's first distinction between appearance and reality: "The real table, if there is one, is not immediately known to us at all, but must be an inference from what is immediately known." (11) The reality of the table, he explains, depends on a proces...
The Problem people have with philosophy is the lack of definite answers. This is not to say that philosophy has never produced any. Russell
Bertrand Russell is a very influential writer within the realm of philosophy. His specific work titled, The Problems of Philosophy discusses the many things that he believes is wrong with the way people think, act towards, treat, and study philosophy as a whole. The one specific essay focused on was titled The Value of Philosophy in chapter xv. This essay focused on why he believes that philosophy was worth studying and why he believes that those who don’t see his vision are wrong and at a disadvantage. More specifically he addresses the “practical man”, which he defines specifically as “one who recognizes only material needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind”
The word “philosophy” is derived from two roots that are “philo” and “Sophia.” Philo means love whereas Sophia means wisdom. Therefore, philosophy means the love of wisdom. In actual practice, philosophy entails study of, pursuit, and enquiry into wisdom. A good number of great philosophers have referred to philosophy as the art of thinking. Others have only defined it as the systematic study of human feelings and thoughts.