什么是罗素

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

英国逻辑学家和哲学家，最着名的是他在数学逻辑方面的着作和代表倡导各种社会和政治事件，尤其是和平主义和解除核武。罗素出生於英国贵族家庭，是罗素伯爵的孙子。伯爵两度担任19世纪时的英国首相。他在剑桥大学研究数学和哲学，在那儿受到观念论哲学家麦克塔格特的影响，但他很快抛弃了观念论，转向柏拉图式的极端现实主义。在早期论文〈关於指示〉（1905）中，他显示了比如这样的没有指示物的短语「法兰西的现任国王」是怎样在逻辑上作为普遍陈述而不是恰当的名称而起作用的，从而解决了哲学语言上的一个着名的难题。罗素後来认为这个名为「描述理论」的发现是他对哲学最重要的贡献之一。在《数学原理》（1903）和划时代的另一本《数学原理》（3卷，1910～1913）中，後者为他和怀德海合作而成，他试着证明整个数学起源於逻辑。在第一次世界大战中持和平主义态度，因而丧失了在剑桥大学的讲师职位，後来入狱。（1939年在纳粹侵略面前他愿意放弃和平主义。）罗素最详尽的形上学说，逻辑原子论，强烈影响了逻辑实证论学派。他的晚期哲学着作有《心的分析》（1921）、《物的分析》（1927）和《人类的知识：它的范围和界限》（1948）。《西方哲学史》（1945）是为普通读者而写，成为一部畅销书，很多年来都是他的主要收入来源。在他许多关於政治和社会话题的书籍中，有《自由之路》（1918）、《布尔什维克的实践和理论》（1920）－－是对苏联共产主义的严厉批评、《论教育》（1926）和《婚姻和道德》（1929）。由於他在晚期着作中支持某些有争议的观点，1940年他在接受纽约城市大学的教师职位时受到阻碍。第二次世界大战後成为解除核武运动的领导者，是关於核子武器和世界安全的国际帕格沃什会议以及解除核武运动的第一任主席。1961年八十九岁的时候，因为煽动国内起义而第二次入狱。他在1950年代获得诺贝尔文学奖。

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.