THE PHILOSOPHY OF
MR. B*RTR*ND R*SS*LL
WITH AN APPENDIX OF LEADING
PASSAGES FROM CERTAIN OTHER WORKS
EDITED BY
PHILIP E. B. JOURDAIN
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1
CHICAGO: THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO.
First published in 1918
(All rights reserved)
EDITOR’S NOTE
When Mr. B*rtr*nd R*ss*ll, following the advice of Mr.W*ll**m J*m*s, again “got into touch with reality” andin July 1911 was torn to pieces by Anti-Suffragists, manyof whom were political opponents of Mr. R*ss*ll and heldstrong views on the Necessity of Protection of Trade andperson, a manuscript which was almost ready for the presswas fortunately saved from the flames on the occasion whena body of eager champions of the Sacredness of PersonalProperty burnt the late Mr. R*ss*ll’s house. This manuscript,together with some further fragments found in thelate Mr. R*ss*ll’s own interleaved copy of his Prayer-Bookof Free Man’s Worship, which was fortunately rescued witha few of the great author’s other belongings, was first givento the world in the Monist for October 1911 and January1916, and has here been arranged and completed by someother hitherto undecipherable manuscripts. The title of theabove-mentioned Prayer-Book, it may perhaps be mentioned,was apparently suggested to Mr. R*ss*ll by that of theEssay on “The Free Man’s Worship” in the PhilosophicalEssays (London, 1910, pp. 59-70[1]) of Mr. R*ss*ll’s distinguishedcontemporary, Mr. Bertrand Russell, from whommuch of Mr. R*ss*ll’s philosophy was derived. And, indeed,the influence of Mr. Russell extended even beyond philosophicalviews to arrangement and literary style. Themethod of arrangement of the present work seems to havebeen borrowed from Mr. Russell’s Philosophy of Leibniz of1900; in the selection of subjects dealt with, Mr. R*ss*llseems to have been guided by Mr. Russell’s Principles ofMathematics of 1903; while Mr. R*ss*ll’s literary style fortunately[Pg 4]reminds us more of Mr. Russell’s later clear andcharming subtleties than his earlier brilliant and no lesssubtle obscurities. But, on the other hand, some importantpoints of Mr. Russell’s doctrine, which first appeared inbooks published after Mr. R*ss*ll’s death, were anticipatedin Mr. R*ss*ll’s notes, and these anticipations, so interestingfor future historians of philosophy, have been provided bythe editor with references to the later works of Mr. Russell.All editorial notes are enclosed in square brackets, to indicatethat they were not written by the late Mr. R*ss*ll.
At the present time we have come to take a calm viewof the question so much debated seven years ago as to thelegitimacy of logical arguments in political discussions.No longer, fortunately, can that intense feeling be rousedwhich then found expression in the famous cry, “Justice—rightor wrong,” and which played such a large part inthe politics of that time. Thus it will not be out of placein this unimpassioned record of some of the truths and errorsin the world to refer briefly to Mr. R*ss*ll’s short and stormycareer. Before he was torn to pieces, he had been forbiddento lecture on philosophy or mathematics by some well-intentioneda