The A B C Of Armageddon

An exploration of Bertrand Russell's writings during the interwar years, a period when he advocated "the scientific outlook" to insure the survival of humanity in an age of potential self-destruction.

An exploration of Bertrand Russell's writings during the interwar years, a period when he advocated "the scientific outlook" to insure the survival of humanity in an age of potential self-destruction.

Peter H. Denton explores Bertrand Russell's attempt to articulate the kind of world he thought possible and the world he feared in the aftermath of World War I. Two concerns were fundamental to Russell's work between 1919 and 1938: the philosophical implications of discoveries in the physical sciences, particularly for the relationship between science and religion, and the grim prospects of an industrial civilization whose science and technology were held responsible for the devastation of the Great War. Placing Russell's work in the context of Anglo-American contemporaries who also perceived this dual aspect of science and technology, Denton explores how, for Russell, the "scientific outlook" was of crucial importance if humanity was to survive in an age of potential technological destruction—themes that are still important today.

For almost two centuries, the category of 'applied science' was widely taken to be both real and important. Then, its use faded. How could an entire category of science appear and disappear? By taking a longue durée approach to British attitudes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Robert Bud explores the scientific and cultural trends that led to such a dramatic rise and fall. He traces the prospects and consequences that gave the term meaning, from its origins to its heyday as an elixir to cure many of the economic, cultural, and political ills of the UK, eventually overtaken by its competitor, 'technology'. Bud examines how 'applied science' was shaped by educational and research institutions, sociotechnical imaginaries, and political ideologies and explores the extent to which non-scientific lay opinion, mediated by politicians and newspapers, could become a driver in the classification of science.

Bertrand Russell was not only one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century; he was also a humanitarian and activist who fought for many moral, social, and political causes. During his lifetime, the general public knew him for his activism and popular works, in which he tackled such diverse topics as sexual ethics, religion, war, and nuclear disarmament. Besides the great achievements in mathematical logic on which his reputation rests, Russell was a pioneer in moral philosophy, and his work in this area informed and guided his activism. Russell created one of the first versions of a meta-ethical theory known as emotivism (sometimes also called the 'boo-hooray' theory, later popularized by A.J. Ayer and C.L. Stevenson) which maintains that ethical statements cannot be true or false - they are simply expressions of emotional attitudes. That Russell could hold such a theory while being at the same time an ardent activist is one feat. That his version was superior to more popular versions of emotivism is another. Yet, despite the fact that Russell held on to some form of emotivism for most of his professional life, and despite the fact that the theory is present in some of his best-known books, it was virtually ignored until the late 1990s. Michael K. Potter's book brings an important new dimension to our understanding of Russell's life, his activism, and his contribution to moral philosophy.

A dynamic and constructive contribution to the discussion about faith and the new atheism. Apologetics is a key area of Christian theology, especially in an increasingly secular society. The authors explore what it means to do apologetics in an Anglican context.