什麼是羅素

Russell, Bertrand (Arthur William), 3rd Earl Russell

英國邏輯學家和哲學家，最着名的是他在數學邏輯方面的着作和代表倡導各種社會和政治事件，尤其是和平主義和解除核武。羅素出生於英國貴族家庭，是羅素伯爵的孫子。伯爵兩度擔任19世紀時的英國首相。他在劍橋大學研究數學和哲學，在那兒受到觀念論哲學家麥克塔格特的影響，但他很快拋棄了觀念論，轉向柏拉圖式的極端現實主義。在早期論文〈關於指示〉（1905）中，他顯示了比如這樣的沒有指示物的短語「法蘭西的現任國王」是怎樣在邏輯上作為普遍陳述而不是恰當的名稱而起作用的，從而解決了哲學語言上的一個着名的難題。羅素後來認為這個名為「描述理論」的發現是他對哲學最重要的貢獻之一。在《數學原理》（1903）和劃時代的另一本《數學原理》（3卷，1910～1913）中，後者為他和懷德海合作而成，他試着證明整個數學起源於邏輯。在第一次世界大戰中持和平主義態度，因而喪失了在劍橋大學的講師職位，後來入獄。（1939年在納粹侵略面前他願意放棄和平主義。）羅素最詳盡的形上學説，邏輯原子論，強烈影響了邏輯實證論學派。他的晚期哲學着作有《心的分析》（1921）、《物的分析》（1927）和《人類的知識：它的範圍和界限》（1948）。《西方哲學史》（1945）是為普通讀者而寫，成為一部暢銷書，很多年來都是他的主要收入來源。在他許多關於政治和社會話題的書籍中，有《自由之路》（1918）、《布爾什維克的實踐和理論》（1920）－－是對蘇聯共產主義的嚴厲批評、《論教育》（1926）和《婚姻和道德》（1929）。由於他在晚期着作中支持某些有爭議的觀點，1940年他在接受紐約城市大學的教師職位時受到阻礙。第二次世界大戰後成為解除核武運動的領導者，是關於核子武器和世界安全的國際帕格沃什會議以及解除核武運動的第一任主席。1961年八十九歲的時候，因為煽動國內起義而第二次入獄。他在1950年代獲得諾貝爾文學獎。

1872～1970年

Russell, Bertrand (Arthur William), 3rd Earl Russell

British logician and philosopher, best known for his work in mathematical logic and for his advocacy on behalf of a variety of social and political causes, especially pacifism and nuclear disarmament. Russell was born into the British nobility as the grandson of Earl Russell, who was twice prime minister of Britain in the mid-19th century. He studied mathematics and philosophy at Cambridge University, where he came under the influence of the idealist philosopher J.M.E. McTaggart, though he soon rejected idealism in favor of an extreme Platonic realism. In an early paper, “On Denoting” (1905), he solved a notorious puzzle in the philosophy of language by showing how phrases such as “The present king of France,” which have no referents, function logically as general statements rather than as proper names. Russell later regarded this discovery, which came to be known as the “theory of descriptions,” as one of his most important contributions to philosophy. In [work]The Principles of Mathematics (1903) and the epochal [work]Principia Mathematica (3 vols., 1910-13), which he wrote with Alfred North Whitehead, he sought to demonstrate that the whole of mathematics derives from logic. For his pacifism in World War I he lost his lectureship at Cambridge and was later imprisoned. (He would abandon pacifism in 1939 in the face of Nazi aggression.) Russell's best-developed metaphysical doctrine, logical atomism, strongly influenced the school of logical positivism. His later philosophical works include [work]The Analysis of Mind (1921), [work]The Analysis of Matter (1927), and [work]Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits (1948). His [work]A History of Western Philosophy (1945), which he wrote for a popular audience, became a best-seller and was for many years the main source of his income. Among his many works on social and political topics are [work]Roads to Freedom (1918); [work]The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (1920), a scathing critique of Soviet communism; [work]On Education (1926); and [work]Marriage and Morals (1929). In part because of the controversial views he espoused in the latter work, he was prevented from accepting a teaching position at the City College of New York in 1940. After World War II he became a leader in the worldwide campaign for nuclear disarmament, serving as first president of the international Pugwash Conferences on nuclear weapons and world security and of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In 1961, at the age of 89, he was imprisoned for a second time for inciting civil disobedience. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.