Showing posts with label Bertrand Russell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bertrand Russell. Show all posts

Tuesday 31 August 2021

Bertrand Russell's Advice for Future Generations


Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, mathematician, essayist, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. In addition to being one of the founding fathers of analytical philosophy, he was best known for his campaign against war, nuclear bombs and racial discrimination.
From the beginning to the end of his active life, Russell engaged himself with the great issues of his day. pacifism. right for women, civil liberty. trial marriage, new methods of education, the nuclear peril and war and peace, for he was at bottom a moralist and a humanist.
In the following rare 1959 interview from BBC’s 1959 Face to Face interview, Russell articulates in just under two minutes one of the most important and admirable aspirations we could hope to live up to, both individually and as a society. Russell is asked to pass along advice to a later generation. In just under two minutes he articulates  with calm wisdom  two things: one intellectual and one moral that still resonates today and cuts with clarity through our noisy world.

 Interviewer:"'Suppose Lord Russell that this film were to be looked at by our descendants, like a dead sea scroll in a thousand years time. What would you think it’s worth telling that generation about the life you’ve lived and the lessons you’ve learned from it?'"

Russell:"I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral. The intellectual thing I should want to say to them is this: When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But look only, and solely, at what are the facts.
The moral thing I should wish to say to them is very simple. I should say love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way. And if we are to live together and not die together, we should learn the kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet. "

 To summarize: Our decisions must be made on truth; not wishful thinking, and we need to learn to be tolerant of people whom we disagree with or we will end up destroying one another. It’s simple advice, and bloody easier said than done, but it bears repeating. 
We must not give up on truth and tolerance. Because, as Russell mentions, they are “absolutely vital” to society. Adhering to this advice is not a passive process.
 We must be critical of the messages we see on a daily basis, and resist the spread of messages that contain inaccuracies.
Here's two earlier  messages from him :-