Person
Bertrand Russell
British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM FRS (May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970) is a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, essayist, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate.[
At various points in his life, Russell considers himself a liberal, a socialist and a pacifist, although he also confesses that his skeptical nature had led him to feel that he had "never been any of these things, in any profound sense."
Russell was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom.
In the early twentieth century, Russell leads the British "revolt against idealism".
He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege, colleague G. E. Moore and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein.
He is widely held to be one of the twentieth century's premier logicians.
With A. N. Whitehead he writes Principia Mathematica, an attempt to create a logical basis for mathematics, the quintessential work of classical logic.
His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy".
His work has had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, and philosophy, especially the philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics.
Russell is a prominent anti-war activist and he champions anti-imperialism.
Occasionally, he advocates preventive nuclear war, before the opportunity provided by the atomic monopoly has passed and he decides he would "welcome with enthusiasm" world government.
He goes to prison for his pacifism during the First World War.
Later, Russell concludes that war against Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany is a necessary "lesser of two evils" and criticizes Stalinist totalitarianism, attacks the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War and is an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament.
In 1950, Russell is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought".