b russell problems

 Why study philosophy? Bertrand Russell

"Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good."

— Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy (1912), Ch. XV: The Value of Philosophy, p. 127

First published in 1912, Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy has never been out of print and is often considered essential reading for philosophy students. Russell, in his trademark usage of clear and concise language, introduces to the reader the key theories of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, David Hume, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel and others to lay the foundation of philosophical inquiry.

Russell considers philosophy as a repeating series of (failed) attempts to answer the same questions:

• Can we prove that there is an external world?

• Can we prove cause and effect?

• Can we validate any of our generalizations?

• Can we objectively justify morality?

He asserts that philosophy cannot answer any of these questions and that any value of philosophy must lie elsewhere than in offering proofs to these questions.

"In the following pages I have confined myself in the main to those problems of philosophy in regard to which I thought it possible to say something positive and constructive, since merely negative criticism seemed out of place. For this reason, theory of knowledge occupies a larger space than metaphysics in the present volume, and some topics much discussed by philosophers are treated very briefly, if at all."

— Bertrand Russell, Preface of The Problems of Philosophy (1912)

"Don't expect others to take as much interest in you as you do yourself."

— Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (1930), Ch. VIII: Persecution Mania, p. 7