bertrand russell art of philosophising

 

“If you wish to become a philosopher, the first thing to realise is that most people go through life with a whole world of beliefs that have no sort of rational justification, and that one man’s world of beliefs is apt to be incompatible with another man’s, so that they cannot both be right. People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people is a secondary consideration.”

— Bertrand Russell, The Art of Philosophizing: And Other Essays (1968), Essay I: The Art of Rational Conjecture (1942), p. 7

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The essays found in this book were written by Bertrand Russell during the Second World War. In those years the author was teaching philosophy at US universities, exercising a growing influence on America’s student population.

Image: Bertrand Russell on the grounds of his home at Penrhyndeudreath, Gwynedd, United Kingdom, 3 March 1965.