russell scepticism politics and religion...

 "Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken ... Nevertheless the opinion of experts, when it is unanimous, must be accepted by non-experts as more likely to be right than the opposite opinion.”

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"Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. Einstein’s view as to the magnitude of the deflection of light by gravitation would have been rejected by all experts not many years ago, yet it proved to be right. Nevertheless the opinion of experts, when it is unanimous, must be accepted by non-experts as more likely to be right than the opposite opinion.

The scepticism that I advocate amounts only to this: (1) that when the experts are agreed, the opposite opinion cannot be held to be certain; (2) that when they are agreed, no opinion can be regarded as certain by a non-expert; and (3) that when they all hold that no sufficient grounds for a positive opinion exist, the ordinary man would do well to suspend his judgment.

These propositions may seem mild, yet, if accepted, they would absolutely revolutionize human life.

The opinions for which people are willing to fight and persecute all belong to one of the three classes which this scepticism condemns. When there are rational grounds for an opinion, people are content to set them forth and wait for them to operate. In such cases, people do not hold their opinions with passion; they hold them calmly, and set forth their reasons quietly. The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder’s lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.”

― Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays (1928), Introduction: On the Value of Scepticism, p. 12

"These propositions may seem mild and unadorned, yet, if accepted, they would absolutely revolutionize human life."

With these words Bertrand Russell introduces what many have found a revolutionary book (Sceptical Essays 1928). Taking as his starting-point the irrationality of the world, Russell offers by contrast something 'wildly paradoxical and subversive' - the position that reason should determine human actions instead of the dogma and superstition often found in religious and political beliefs. In his clear, engaging prose, Russell guides the reader through the many key philosophical issues that affect our daily lives - freedom, happiness, emotions, ethics and beliefs - and offers his characteristic no-nonsense advice.

“The universe is what it is, not what I choose that it should be."

— Bertrand Russell, The Freethinker’s Universe (1951)

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“The universe is what it is, not what I choose that it should be. If it is indifferent to human desires, as it seems to be; if human life is a passing episode, hardly noticeable in the vastness of cosmic processes; if there is no superhuman and supernatural purpose, and no hope of ultimate salvation, it is far better to understand and acknowledge this truth than to endeavor, in futile self-assertion, to order the universe to be what we may find comfortable.

The universe is neither hostile nor friendly; it neither favors our ideals nor refutes them. Our individual life is brief, and perhaps the whole life of humankind will be brief if measured on an astronomical scale. But that is no reason for not living it as seems best to us. The things that seem to us good are none the less good for not being eternal, and we should not ask of the universe an external approval of our own ethical standards.

The freethinker’s universe may seem bleak and cold to those who have been accustomed to the comfortable indoor warmth of the various religious cosmologies. But to those who have grown accustomed to it, it has its own sublimity, and confers its own joys. In learning to think freely we have hopefully learnt to thrust fear out of our thoughts, and this lesson, once learnt, brings a kind of peace which is impossible to the slave of hesitant and uncertain credulity.”

— Bertrand Russell, The Value of Free Thought: How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery (1944), pp. 40-41

Bertrand Russell's The Value of Free Thought: How to Become a Truth-Seeker and Break the Chains of Mental Slavery (1944) was published as a booklet by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (July 30, 1889 – July 31, 1951). Haldeman-Julius was a Jewish-American socialist writer, atheist thinker, social reformer and publisher. He is best remembered as the head of Haldeman-Julius Publications, the creator of a series of pamphlets known as "Little Blue Books," total sales of which ran into the hundreds of millions of copies.

Image: Bertrand Russell 1951.

russell on darwin

"Whoever wishes to become a philosopher will do well to pay attention to the history of science, and particularly to its warfare with theology. With the exception of pure mathematics, every science has had to begin by fighting to establish its right to exist. Astronomy was condemned in the person of Galileo, geology in the person of Buffon. Scientific medicine was, for a long time, made almost impossible by the opposition of the Church to the dissection of dead bodies. Darwin came too late to suffer penalties, but Catholics and the Legislature of Tennessee still regard evolution with abhorrence. Each step has been won with difficulty, and each new step is still opposed, as if nothing were to be learnt from past defeats."

— Bertrand Russell, How to become a Philosopher - The Art of Rational Conjecture (1942), p. 18

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Image: Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.

Darwin considered it "absurd to doubt that a man might be an ardent theist and an evolutionist" and, though reticent about his religious views, in 1879 he wrote "I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind". The "Lady Hope Story", published in 1915, claimed that Darwin had reverted to Christianity on his deathbed. The claims were repudiated by Darwin's children and have been dismissed as false by historians.

Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.