REMEMBERING
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Dr. C. Jacob
The entire
world knows that Bertrand Russell was one of the greatest philosophers of the
20th century. He was born on
18-5-1872 in England. He is a great
mathematician, a wonderful writer, a Jonathan Swift in satire, a renowned
pacifist, a humanist beyond comparison and above all a great philosopher. In fact, he regretted when he was awarded
Nobel Prize for literature, instead of for philosophy. Like Spinoza he wanted to liberate mankind
from the tyranny of fear which arises out of ignorance. It is a fact beyond doubt that he succeeded
in liberating countless number of people all over the world from ignorance,
dogmas, superstitions, irrational beliefs, wrong notions and erroneous concepts
of ethics, morality and sin. With his
powerful pen and reasoning capacity he achieved his objectives.
In Russel’s
view social, economic and political inequalities are man-made evils and
therefore those inequalities should be removed by man himself. His philosophy is “no one should learn how
to obey and no one should attempt to command”.
He is a lover of peace. He
condemned war. He emphasised the
necessity of establishing world-government.
He is the protagonist of happiness on earth in this life. His book “Conquest of Happiness” speaks of how to
achieve happiness. How to be rational
and scientific in thinking, his “Scetpical Essays” tell. How to educate children and create an ideal
world, his book “On Education” teaches.
How best we can enjoy married life, his “Marriage and Morals” guides
us. As to how to develop philosophic
outlook, his ‘History of Western Philosophy” and “My Philosophic Development”
help. To liberate ourselves from the
tyranny of fear, ignorance, misconceptions of life, erroneous beliefs,
irrational concepts on men and matters and above all superstitions his
“Unpopular Essays”, “The Impact of Science on Society” and “Why I am not a
Christian” enlighten us. How to avoid
overwork and fatigue and enjoy leisure, his book “In Praise of Idleness”
annunciates. What man is and what man ought to be, his “Autobiography” reveals.
As Emerson
put it “Every great man is an age, an era and a century requiring infinite time
and space to fully accomplish his designs”. Russell such is a great man who
requires such time and space to get his ideas and views realised.
Though many
of Russell’s views were rejected by society in the beginning and though he was
imprisoned twice and fined once and his book called “Human Society in Ethics and
Politics” was proscribed for 50 years, in the end all his views and ideas were
accepted with great fervour and gusto, and ultimately the society, as a measure
of atonement, crowned him with the Nobel Prize.
Russell, we
know, gives many new morals to mankind.
He emphasises the need of love guided by knowledge and reason. He tells that conscience is not a mysterious
thing because it is always in agreement with tribal custom and it is an outcome
of evolution and education, and it is not uniform at all times and places and
it cannot be accepted as a good guide for reason. About children he says that no child is born either good or bad,
as the raw material of good and bad will be in neutral state in children, and
the child takes that shape given by the parent. Like Heracletus, the Greek
philosopher, he lays down that character is destiny and that the character of a
country depends upon the character of its people. So, he is of the view that the foundation of character should be
laid in children in their formative period.
About
religion and God, Russell’s, views are different. He is clear in his thought.
According to him, the idea of God, spirit, soul, eternity, heaven and
hell, are the fruits of fertile imagination of the mind of man. Though society stamped Russell as an
agnostic and an atheist and tried to suppress his views, it is universally
acknowledged now that there is no other man like him who is so clear in his
views and impartial in approaching every human problem. The opening lines of his autobiography speak
of his intellectual eminence and profound knowledge and his unparalleled
passion for humanism. To quote him,
“Three passions, simple but over-whelmingly strong, have governed my life: the
longing for love, the search of knowledge, and unbearable pity for the
suffering of mankind. These passions,
like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a
deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the edge of despair”.
As a homage
to Russell let me recall here two samples of his intellectual eminence and
profound knowledge and baffling wisdom.
About Communist Philosophy he observes:
Yehweh = Dialectical materialism
The Messiah = Marx.
The Elect = The Proletariat
The Church = The Communist Party
The Second = The Revolution Coming
Hell = Punishment
of the Capitalists
The Millenium = The
Communist Common Wealth
Now his Ten Commandments styled as
DECALOGUE:
1.
Do not
feel absolutely certain of anything.
2.
Do not
think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for, the evidence is
sure to come to light.
3.
Never
try to discourage thinking, for, you are sure to succeed.
4.
When
you meet with opposition, even if it be from your husband or your children, endeavour
to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent on
authority is unreal and illusory.
5.
Have no
respect for authority of others for there are always contrary authorities to be
found.
6.
Do not
use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions
will suppress you.
7.
Do not
fear to be eccentric in opinion for every opinion now accepted was once
eccentric.
8.
Find
more pleasure in intelligent dissent than passive agreement, for, if you value
intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the
latter.
9.
Be
scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient when you try to
conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness
of those who live in fool’s paradise, for, only a fool will think that it is
happiness.
Before
parting with the subject I add that Russell gave utmost importance to
intellectual freedom. He was a
sceptic. He never cared the public and
never surrendered his freedom to anybody except to reason. He even proclaimed that he became a slave to
reason. He did not mind divorcing his
wives, one after the other, numbering three, when they became obstacles to his
intellectual development. He is a
circular saw and he left no deadwood of intellectual rubbish uncut and removed.
At the same time his wit and humour and sarcasm send people to peals of
laughter and make them forget themselves.
He studied human mind as clearly as Shakesphere did. All hail to Earl Bertrand Russell.
Russell, you may remember,
lived for full 98 years and died on 2-4-1970 with his life’s aims fulfilled.