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Bertrand Russell: 1921-1970, The Ghost of Madness, by Ray Monk
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From Library Journal
This rich, variegated biography (Monk's second and final volume after The Spirit of Solitude, 1872-1921) starts off on a happy note for Russell, with his second marriage (of four) and the longed-for birth of a son. Unfortunately, from that point on, things only go downhill for him emotionally. Throughout his life, Russell (1873-1970) felt that he might go insane. He believed very much in romantic love but was apparently incapable of truly loving anyone. This emotional insecurity led him to multiple liaisons outside of his marriages (at the age of 64, his third marriage was to a 20-year-old) and strained relationships with his two children. Particularly upsetting to Russell was the homosexuality of his son, since he was on record as saying that homosexuality was the consequence of bad parenting. These domestic problems aside, Monk does a marvelous job of covering the highlights of the last half of Russell's long life: his Nobel prize in literature, the Russell-Einstein Manifesto against nuclear proliferation, his imprisonment for antinuclear protests, his social and political philosophy, and his contributions to logic and analytic philosophy. Highly recommended for academic and public library collections. Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Booklist
One of the great logicians of modern times, Bertrand Russell lived a life that defies all syllogisms. In the second volume of what is sure to establish itself as the definitive biography, Monk lays bare the strange paradoxes that bedeviled the great philosopher during the last six decades of his very long life. Careful scholarship shreds the illusion of success created by Russell's elevation to the Order of Merit and by his surprising selection for a Nobel Prize in literature. What then stands exposed is the conceptual confusion that increasingly clogged Russell's public pronouncements in his later years, as well as the personal betrayals that poisoned his private life. It is thus a figure of tragedy not triumph that Monk limns in this nuanced chronicle, recounting how Russell lost his grip on serious philosophy, squandered his literary gifts in hack journalism, repeatedly failed in his marital and parental relationships, and embarrassed himself in his politics. To be sure, it is still a modern titan that Monk shows his readers--one who deflected the lives of Einstein, Eliot, and Trotsky. But it is a titan who ascended to the pantheon shrouded in shadows of pathos. Sure to endure as a standard reference for decades. Bryce ChristensenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product details
Hardcover: 592 pages
Publisher: Free Press; 1st Free Press Ed edition (March 20, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743212150
ISBN-13: 978-0743212151
Product Dimensions:
6.2 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.7 out of 5 stars
17 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,292,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Russell was best by the paradox of believing that his colossal work effort and production in philosophy and in the philosophy of mathematics was fruitless while others found it to be the work of a genius. Simultaneously, he also believed that his prolific work output in journalism (politics, education, morality, sex and society) to be of great importance while others found it to be utterly trivial and fruitless. Add to this, Russell won the Nobel Prize not for his original and profound contribution to philosophical thought, e.g., 'The Principles of Mathematics', 'On Denoting' or even 'Principia Mathematica' but for his later popular works that other philosophers regarded as unimportant and even inferior.Retreat & Retrenchment:Russell’s retreat from the reality of the world of eternal truths to be found in philosophy, mathematics and logic necessitated a retreat from the realm of the gods to the quotidian world of lesser mortals with their trivial political and social problems which, after breathing the rarefied air of the gods, he was less able to contend. The best years of his life were spent searching for certain knowledge in the realm of mathematics and logic. A search that resulted in paradox and perplexity. After the retreat from Pythagoras, Russel’s task now was to lure back the gods. But he found that the world of the gods does not exist and that he would have to find his way through the darkness of the human made world. He found that the human made social, political, economic world was one subjectivity and caprice. He then moved to the realm of science as the only reliable path to certain knowledge only to find that the most advanced thinking in physics undermined the possibility of certain knowledge, this too only cast the paw of uncertainty on absolute reality. This brought about a decisive change in his conception of himself. He became a man with no country so to speak, beyond philosophy, a misfit in politics, a dabbler in physics but all the while a humanitarian with eternal insights into the human condition. Ever ambivalent, he became a suitably cynical and a detached skeptical onlooker, his course of moderation between the vices of the extremes left him isolated and alone, so much for the lot of the reasonable person in unreasonable times within a world uncertain, save for the madness. At last, he found his way back to the eternal ‘Spirit of Solitude’.Analytical? Philosophy:The error in analytical philosophy that Russell is credited with pioneering is to see philosophy as a source of knowledge. Knowledge, not meaning, was Russel’s primary philosophical concern. In any case, knowledge is not exhaustive of the human experience. Philosophy is not a science, it is much closer to the arts and literature. The wisdom and wonder represented by philosophy are always just out of reach, and this longing is the missing part of the human experience not accounted for with knowledge. Unfortunately, the history of philosophy, after Socrates, has been one of attempting to reduce philosophy to a search for knowledge. First to theological knowledge, then to transcendental knowledge, then to the scientific or mathematical kind of knowledge culminating with the entire discipline of analytical philosophy, as initiated by Russell, which sees itself as sort of science. This is a mistaken conception of what philosophy is and one that Russell could not overcome.Russell, the Un-modern Modern:Russell was exceedingly modern at a time when what it meant to be modern was changing. He thought the problems of the world could be solved with the simple application of rational policies. In this, he overestimated the human capacity for reason. Russell had a trust in modernity and progress that we no longer have and this makes Russell look less and modern to us than he did in his own time. We no longer have a faith in modernity or that progress, any kind of progress, can solve, resolve or dissolve any of our problems. Progress is uneven and always promises more than it delivers.Rejection of modernity and progress is now the most modern (post modern) and progressive perspective, this is what Russell did not see or foresee. He never stopped believing that reason and rationally were self-evident and axiomatic. That was the one axiom that he never thought to be in need of a rigorous proof. We have lost the faith that we can solve our problems rationally and perhaps for very good reason. We have seen how the tools of reason and rationality, science and industry, can threaten our very survival and the inhabitability of the planet. The losing of faith in modernity is the most modern of sensibilities.Unrelated Note:Unrelated, I have read many of the negative reviews and it seems to me that many of these reviewers were looking a hagiography rather than a biography. Ray Monk is to be congratulated on his thorough and authoritative treatment of Russell without falling into the trap of writing a hagiography as many chroniclers do. This book, along with volume 1, comprise what is simply a superb biography. I believe that most of the critical reviews on this point can be disregarded.
Having read "Wittgenstein", then vol 1 of this biography, this was a natural and exciting follower. I certainly have to wonder what connection there is to a life associated, at least ab initio, with mathematics and failure in one's personal life. Considering the connection between logic, mathematics, and reasoning, and our need for success with those to be successful in one's life in general, this certainly brings up an issue of a golden mean between extremes. It perhaps also brings up an issue of autism and the genetic predisposition to autism as a range of autism might on one hand lead to outstanding mathematical accomplishment accompanied by outstanding social failure.It is such a shame that such a great mind would give up such important work for lack of - self discipline? Self control? A family madness? Most telling I thought was the quote given in response to the question "Why did you give up philosophy?" Since his response is shocking but stabs to the heart of the personal difficulties experienced by BR and successfully passed on to almost all of his children and grandchildren one has to wonder was this nurture or nature. A clue seems to be the success of those who had the earliest and longest break in contact. The less contact the more success?Perhaps an errata sheet should be made available regarding the apparent deleted words. One sentence especially seemed to need "not" to make sense in context, but in general I found my reading to be abruptly halted with the awareness of a word missing - in a context where I could know precisely what word would have been right. I half wonder if RM was using a new word processor or something? I did not notice this at all with vol. 1.Regardless, of all the things worth reading this will always be high on my recommend list. Great philosophers are easier to understand when we know as much as we can about them as persons. Thanks Ray! Eternally grateful.
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The negative reviews of this monumental bio are themselves unfair. I understand the reverence for Russell that arises from his brilliance as a philosopher and his status as an antiwar/antinuclear icon. But Monk gives credit where credit is due, and one is left at the end of the book with a deep sadness about all of the tragedies he suffered, even those that he can be said to have inflicted on himself.To the extent that Russell is made to look mean-spirited, frivolous or incoherent, those are conclusions justly to be drawn largely from his own pen and his speeches. Just a few things: While Hitler was preparing for war, Russell advocated unilateral disarmament by Britain, on the theory that, like a dog chasing a car that stops dead in the road, Hitler would lose his aggressive impulses if no one else had weapons. And in the aftermath of WWII, he argued that the US should threaten the USSR with nuclear annihilation unless it agreed to come under the yoke of a world government run by the United States! He said publicly that John F. Kennedy was more evil than Hitler or Stalin. He took credit for defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it appears that he played a trivial role in the resolution if any. When his children were young he believed that by applying strictly behaviorist principles he could turn them into perfect adults. He refused to have any direct contact with his ex-wife Dora for decades, to the detriment of his children and grandchildren. When his son sank into mental illness, he cut him off emotionally, and then did the same thing to his granddaughter Lucy at the very end of his life. (She killed herself by setting herself afire in a village cemetery five years later.)This is all well documented. It is not a fantasy constructed by someone "out to get" the man. If we have to revise our simple picture of the aged, aristocratic warrior against evil in the world, so be it.
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