Mysticism And Logic And Other Essays

Delve into the profound essays of Bertrand Russell, unraveling the mysteries that shape our understanding of thought and logic. Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays by Bertrand Russell: Immerse yourself in the intellectual landscape of Bertrand Russell with Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays. This collection of essays explores Russell's thoughts on philosophy, mysticism, and the nature of human knowledge. Russell's clarity of expression and incisive reasoning make this collection an enlightening journey into the realms of logic and mysticism. Why This Book? Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays invites readers to grapple with the profound questions that have fascinated Bertrand Russell throughout his career. The essays serve as a guide to understanding Russell's perspective on the interplay between logic and mysticism, offering intellectual stimulation for inquisitive minds. Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher and Nobel laureate, continues to influence philosophical discourse. Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays stands as a testament to Russell's enduring impact on the exploration of human thought.

Metaphysics, or the attempt to conceive the world as a whole by means of thought, has been developed, from the first, by the union and conflict of two very different human impulses, the one urging men towards mysticism, the other urging them towards science. Some men have achieved greatness through one of these impulses alone, others through the other alone: in Hume, for example, the scientific impulse reigns quite unchecked, while in Blake a strong hostility to science co-exists with profound mystic insight. But the greatest men who have been philosophers have felt the need both of science and of mysticism: the attempt to harmonise the two was what made their life, and what always must, for all its arduous uncertainty, make philosophy, to some minds, a greater thing than either science or religion...

Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays is a collection of essays written and edited by Nobel Prize winning author Bertrand Russell. Russell was a heralded British philosopher, historian and mathematician, as well as a well-published author, and is considered one of the great minds of the 20th century. In this collection, Russell challenges romantic mysticism while promoting a logical and mathematics-based approach to interpreting the world around us. The collection opens with one of Russell's most well known essays, Mysticism and Logic, in which the author explains his worldview and the need for logic when interpreting life. Nine more essays follow this one, and touch on a range of topics including mathematics, life and death, plurality, the nature of existence, intelligence, and science's role in a liberal education. The first five essays of this collection are "entirely popular" according to Russell, whereas the final four are "somewhat more technical." Despite this disclaimer, the layman will still find these essays readable. Russell writes with a clarity and voice that is rare amongst philosophers. Indeed, his work is some of the most accessible of the important philosophical musings of recent times. While technical and precise, the author still writes in a popular style that will appeal to all readers. His words are insightful and moving, and will resonate deeply with the contemplative reader. Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays is one of the great philosophical works of modern times. It is a must read for all those who enjoy philosophy, mysticism, and logic. Russell has achieved a great feat with this book, and it is one that should be read and digested by all. Highly recommended. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

A contradictory sort of fellow - Will Durant, in his congenial The Story of Philosophy, describes Bertrand Russell as '...resolved to be hard-headed because he knows he can not be.' This is a bit unfair, as it doesn't really take into account Russell's philosophy, merely the man. But the two are so hard to separate! Basically, Russell believes that mysticism 'is the inspirer of what is best in man.' But that it is absolutely muddle-headed and has lead mankind down numerous philosophic blind alleys in the past thousand or so years. He was a mathematical genius, wrote prose that could cut like a razor blade concerning the most abstruse subjects in a manner understandable to most laymen, and was a profound skeptic in re matters religious. This latter got him into all kinds of trouble with women's societies and the like back in the earlier part of the century and actually got him fired from the City College of New York. So he packed his bags and went to teach at Harvard. You see, he was a British aristocrat (an Earl) and all this rabble rousing by the hoi polloi was really a non-issue for him. In his autobiography, he recounts how his mother always told him, 'Never follow a crowd to do Evil.' Russell never followed a crowd to do anything! All this biographical elaboration is to help readers understand the man who wrote this book which, in a nutshell, praises the mystical impulse in its pure, unadulterated form while deploring the aforementioned philosophical muddles to which it leads, and, on the other hand, glorifies (justly) the English schools of empirical logic and the scientific progress to which they have lead. One can hardly look at this computer screen and deny this claim. All this in a lucid and thoroughly enjoyable prose. Yes, Russell has seen his days of celebrity come and go (as well as his days in general, one might add, ) but if you chance by a wizened looking professor loaded down with heavyweight tomes on metaphysical systems, you might get a rather surprising response if you mention Bertie Russell. In his day, Russell was the Mick Jagger of Philosophy, and coeds used to quarrel over who got to bed down with him that night when he came to lecture that the stuff a good proportion of their professors were teaching was, quite literally, nonsense. And just think, he got away with it all! What fun!

A modern and beautifully redesigned version of the classic text. Known widely as a political and social activist, Bertrand Russell was one of the most important philosophers of the 20th Century. Widely referenced, quoted and respected, Russell wrote on most areas of philosophy, but is arguably most revered for his advocacy of science and reason. Mysticism and Logic showcases this depth and breadth of thought by bringing together a selection of his writing on various subjects. Bite size commentaries from one of humanities greatest thinkers, on subjects as diverse as religion and maths and, of course, mysticism and logic.