In "The Silent Majority", Wang Xiaobo once quoted such a sentence: It is necessary to know that jagged polymorphism is the source of happiness.
This statement is often tied to Wang Xiaobo, in addition to its own reasoning, but also because Wang Xiaobo is quite closely related to the author of this statement.
These words came from Russell, and Wang Xiaobo regarded him as a spiritual idol. If you read Wang Xiaobo, it is not difficult to find that in his articles there will often be words such as "Mr. Russell said..." In his writing, Wang Xiaobo often quotes Russell, and some people even say that he "will lose his voice if he does not say Russell".
Whether it is an exaggeration or not, the extent of Russell's influence on Wang Xiaobo is not difficult to glimpse.
| Russell was invited to china to lecture for a year in 1920, but unfortunately, Wang Xiaobo was not yet born at that time, and he did not see an idol...
Bertrand · Russell, a famous British philosopher, mathematician, poet and social activist of the 20th century, won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature, one of the pioneers of modern analytic philosophy, and one of the philosophers most familiar to Chinese readers.
His History of Western Philosophy has been a bestseller in China for more than forty years and has become synonymous with the history of Western philosophy.
Three simple and extremely intense passions dominate my life: the desire for love, the quest for knowledge, and the unquenchable sympathy for human suffering.
--Russell
The desire for love, his rich love history of 4 marriages and countless lovers is the result and proof. His rich writings and numerous identity tags attest to his fervent pursuit of knowledge. Similarly, Russell's enthusiastic praise for philosophy, as the most important identity, the philosopher, also confirms his "passion" as well.
At the end of The Philosophical Question, he enthusiastically praises the value of philosophy:
In addition to its function in demonstrating possibilities which people have not yet doubted, philosophy has another value, perhaps its main value—the knowledge of the greatness of the object through contemplation, the liberation of man from selfishness and narrowness.
In addition, his love of mathematics and logic made Russell a calm person and made his philosophical contemplation seem free and fair.
He called on people to break out of the inherent circle of life, enter the objective world in search of knowledge, and explore the concept of stability in philosophy. He hopes to build a philosophical world based on knowledge and lead people to the right path in life:
We must expand our territory of interests and pocket the whole outside world, otherwise we will be like the defenders of a besieged city, knowing that we cannot escape, but have to throw away our armor.
There is no peace in such a life, and it can only be constantly entangled between the desire to not let go and the weak will.
In any case, if you want to live a great and free life, you must escape this cage and struggle.
Philosophy itself does not tell us a correct answer, but it offers a variety of possibilities.
So, can the philosophy that Russell praise shows us the right path, the meaning of life?
Different philosophers have given different answers to this.
Schopenhauer said that life is a prisoner of desire, and if desire is not satisfied, it will fall into pain, and if desire is satisfied, it will lead to boredom.
Nietzsche said that life has no meaning, and people need to re-evaluate the value and take the initiative to create meaning for life.
Heidegger said, you are sure that life has meaning, then go live and let the meaning unfold naturally.
Sartre said that life is destined to suffer, and we are destined to be free to chase meaning.
These depressing answers obviously could not make Russell agree. As the founder of analytic philosophy, Russell was committed to making philosophy in general as close to common sense as possible. He rejects the overuse of complex concepts and useless terminology, arguing that careful linguistic analysis and careful use of words can solve most problems.
Of course, for Russell, the pursuit of the meaning of life comes back to one question: What is the nature of the world? Questioning the nature of the world became Russell's lifelong intellectual pursuit.
Russell's philosophy thus begins with the following question: "Is there any knowledge in the world so conclusive that a rational man cannot doubt it?" ”
| Russell's message to the world
His reflections began at a table:
The table looked rectangular, brown and shiny; it was smooth to the touch, slightly cool and hard; and when I tapped it gently, it made a crisp sound of wood.
Reading this, I believe that anyone can think of such a table, but if you think about it, the table will obviously have different effects in light or dark under different lighting conditions; the seemingly smooth desktop will also be uneven under the microscope. Thus, the same objective being produces different subjective feelings; the external world seems to be of a constant nature, but the knowledge we gain from it can only be based on individual experience.
So, are the senses reliable? Is the experience reliable? Does reality exist?
If the senses are reliable, a table does not take on a variety of colors; if the experience is reliable, just as the sun rises today so the sun will rise tomorrow, then will the chickens be confused, why do the people who come to feed every day end up sending themselves to the slaughterhouse?
If reality must exist, how can the question of "brain in the vat" be explained? How can we distinguish between dreams and reality, after all, the naval battles that occur in dreams are as real as reality?
PS: Brain in a Vat: A person (let's assume yourself) is operated on by an evil scientist, and your brain is cut off from the body and put into a vat containing nutrients to keep your brain alive. The brain's nerve endings are connected to a computer that routinely sends messages to the brain, giving you the illusion that everything is still normal. For you, people, objects, and the sky still exist, and the movement and feeling of the body are still there. Your brain can also be fed or intercepted into memories (into various environments, everyday lives you may experience). You can even be entered into code: this ridiculous and funny piece of text you're reading right now might also be part of the code.
The most basic question about this hypothesis is: "How do you guarantee that you are not in this predicament?" ”
So, can philosophy give us a clear path? Nor does it seem to be, as Russell puts it:
Philosophy itself does not tell us a correct answer to these doubts that philosophy raises, but it offers a variety of possibilities. And these possibilities are enough to expand our thinking and liberate our minds from the control of habit.
Thus, while reducing our certainty about "what things are," philosophy brings with it a great deal of knowledge of what things might be.
As for those who have never experienced such emancipation, philosophy can drive away the arrogant dogmatism in them, and at the same time, by showing us the unfamiliar side of everyday things, philosophy can keep us alive in curiosity.
The philosophy that Russell shows us may not tell us such conclusive answers as "1 + 1 = 2", but his pursuit of knowledge breaks our habitual experience in daily life, and the value of philosophy is constantly searched for in these uncertainties.
If you are interested in philosophy and Russell, you may wish to read "Three Books of Russell Philosophy", which is a collection of Russell's epistemological works, which for the first time combines three works of "Philosophical Problems", "Our Knowledge about the External World", and "The Development of My Philosophy" into one, forming a three-dimensional text structure of philosophical narration, lecture manuscripts, and memoirs.
Philosophical Questions, in his later memoirs, described russell as "a great success" and "illustrated my various views", regarding it as a masterpiece of a lifetime. In this section, Russell considers the sources of knowledge, analyzes methods of logical thinking, and summarizes the value of philosophical research.
"Our Knowledge of the Outside World" is the transcript of Russell's "Lowell Lecture" at Harvard University, which fully expounds his philosophical theory and proposes that only through logical analysis can the world be truly understood. In this section, Russell intensively analyzes the nature, applicability, and limitations of logical analysis.
The Development of My Philosophy is Russell's memoir as he looks back on his life. The book recalls his criticism of Kant and Hegel in his youth, introduces the background of the formation of the views of "Philosophical Problems", and makes further updates and additions. In this section, we can see how Russell became a maverick "thinker" step by step.
| Table of Contents of the Three Books of Russell's Philosophy
Philosophy asks about the meaning of life, but any direct answer to this question will not be a good philosophy. As Russell said, "We study philosophy not to find a definitive answer to the question it asks, nor can we know which answer is definitely true." ”
However, philosophical thinking still has its value, and the meaning of life can only be answered in continuous inquiry, so:
Philosophy studies the problems themselves, because they expand our conception of the "possible," enrich our imagination at the mental level, and reduce dogmatic conclusions that lock our minds and prevent us from thinking.
But most importantly, we need to experience the greatness of the universe through philosophical contemplation. In this way, the human mind will become greater and greater until it becomes one with the universe that constitutes its supreme good.
What do you know about Russell?
Where do you think philosophy is important?
Let's talk about it in the comments section
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