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Bertrand Russell, On Avoiding Foolish Opinions: “If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arith

He was one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, each of whom was specially noted for one wise saying; his, according to tradition, was “water is best.”

Bertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy

In the first place, Plato has no understanding of philosophical syntax. I can say “Socrates is human,” “Plato is human,” and so on. In all these statements, it may be assumed that the word “human” has exactly the same meaning. But whatever it means, it means something which is not of the same kind as Socrates, Plato, and the rest of the individuals

Bertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy

Kant maintained that every human being is an end in himself, and this may be taken as an expression of the view introduced by Christianity. There is, however, a logical difficulty in Kant’s view, since it gives no means of reaching a decision when two men’s interests clash. If each is an end in himself, how are we to arrive at a principle for deter

Bertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy

He attributed to himself a semi-divine character, and appears to have said: “There are men and gods, and beings like Pythagoras.”

Bertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy

He begins with scepticism in regard to the senses. Can I doubt, he says, that I am sitting here by the fire in a dressing-gown? Yes, for sometimes I have dreamt that I was here when in fact I was naked in bed. (Pyjamas, and even nightshirts, had not yet been invented.) Moreover madmen sometimes have hallucinations, so it is possible that I may be i

Bertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy

Many modern philosophers, however, have not accepted this view of ethics. They have thought that one should first define the good, and then say that our actions ought to be such as tend to realize the good. This point of view is more like that of Aristotle, who holds that happiness is the good.