[Peace-discuss] Bertrand Russell at 150

[Szoke, Ron]

Bertrand Russell (May 18, 1872 - Feb. 2, 1970). 
Philosopher. Historian. Agnostic. Pacifist. Anti-war activist. Anti-nuclear activist. Anti-imperialist. Critic of organized religion. Graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge (1893). 
Author of "Why Men Fight" (1916), "Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays" (1918), "Why I Am Not A Christian" (1927), "Sceptical Essays" (1928), "In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays" (1935), "History of Western Philosophy" (1945), "The Will To Doubt" (1958), "Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare" (1959), and "Has Man A Future?" (1961), among many other works. 
Born in Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales. Died in Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd, Wales. Buried in Trinity College, Cambridge, England.
   Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell was a Welsh polymath. As an academic, he worked in philosophy, mathematics, and logic. His work has had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, and various areas of analytic philosophy, especially philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He was a public intellectual, historian, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. He was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom. Russell was one of the early 20th century's most prominent logicians, and one of the founders of analytic philosophy, along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege, his friend and colleague G. E. Moore and his student and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein. Russell with Moore led the British "revolt against idealism"."

   "When we speak of anything as “free,” our meaning is not definite unless we can say what it is free from. Whatever or whoever is “free” is not subject to some external compulsion, and to be precise we ought to say what this kind of compulsion is. Thus thought is “free” when it is free from certain kinds of outward control which are often present. Some of these kinds of control which must be absent if thought is to be “free” are obvious, but others are more subtle and elusive.
   To begin with the most obvious. Thought is not “free” when legal penalties are incurred by the holding or not holding of certain opinions, or by giving expression to one’s belief or lack of belief on certain matters. Very few countries in the world have as yet even this elementary kind of freedom. In England, under the Blasphemy Laws, it is illegal to express disbelief in the Christian religion, though in practice the law is not set in motion against the well-to-do. It is also illegal to teach what Christ taught on the subject of non-resistance. Therefore, whoever wishes to avoid becoming a criminal must profess to agree with Christ’s teaching, but must avoid saying what that teaching was. 
In America no one can enter the country without first solemnly declaring that he disbelieves in anarchism and polygamy; and, once inside, he must also disbelieve in communism. In Japan it is illegal to express disbelief in the divinity of the Mikado. It will thus be seen that a voyage round the world is a perilous adventure. A Mohammedan, a Tolstoyan, a Bolshevik, or a Christian cannot undertake it without at some point becoming a criminal, or holding his tongue about what he considers important truths. This, of course, applies only to steerage passengers; saloon passengers are allowed to believe whatever they please, provided they avoid offensive obtrusiveness.
It is clear that the most elementary condition, if thought is to be free, is the absence of legal penalties for the expression of opinions. No great country has yet reached to this level, although most of them think they have. "