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to Unedited Philosophy Quotes and Ramblings about Intequinism.
Author:
Bertrand Russel
Title:
History of Western Philosophy
Place:
London and New York
Publisher:
Routledge Classics
Year:
2004 by Routledge Classics
First published 1946 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd,
London
©1996 The Bertrand Russel Peace Foundation Ltd
ISBN 10:
0-415-32505-6
ISBN 13:
978-0-415-32505-9
Reader:
Mnr. M.D. Pienaar
Russell,
B. 2004. History of western
philosophy. (London and New York: Routledge
Classics)
11 June 2014
"Dionysus, or
Bacchus, was originally a Thracian god. The Thracians were
very much less civilized than the Greeks, who regarded them
as barbarians. Like all primitive agriculturists, they had
fertility cults, and a god who promoted fertility. His name
was Bacchus. It was never quite clear whether Bacchus had
the shape of a man or a bull. When they discovered how to
make beer, they thought intoxication divine, and gave honour
to Bacchus. When, later, they came to know the vine and to
learn to drink wine, they thought even better of him. His
function in promoting fertility in general became somewhat
subordinate to his function in relation to the grape and the
divine madness produced by wine." (Russel, 2004:24)
"Euripides,
especially, honoured the two chief gods of Orphism, Dionysis
and Eros. He has no respect for the coldly self-righteous
well-behaved man, who in his tragedies, is apt to be driven
mad or otherwise brought to grief by the gods in resentment
of his blasphemy." (Russel, 2004:29)
Orpheus reformed the
Bacchic traditions with ascetism. As for the Christians wine
was a symbol but the orphics did not consume large
quantities of wine. (Russel, 2004:26).
14 June 2014
"Plato is always
concerned to advocate views that will make people what he
thinks virtuous; he is hardly ever intellectually honest,
because he allows himself to judge doctrines by their social
consequences. Even about this, he is not honest; he pretends
to follow the argument and to be judging by purely
theoretical standards, when in fact he is twisting the
discussion so as to lead to a virtuous result. He introduced
this vice into philosophy, where it has persisted ever
since." (Russel, 2004:84).
"Let us begin with
Xenophon, a military man, not very liberally endowed with
brains, and on the whole conventional in his outlook.
Xenophon is pained that Socrates should have been accused of
impiety and of corrupting the youth; he contends that, on
the contrary, Socrates was eminently pious and had a
thoroughly wholesome effect on those who came under his
influence. His ideas, it appears, so far from being
subversive, were rather dull and commonplace. This defence
goes to far, since it leaves the hostility to Socrates
unexplained." (Russel, 2004:89).
"There has been a
tendency to think that everything Xenophon says must be
true, because he had not the wits to think of anything
untrue. This is a very invalid line of argument. A stupid
man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate,
because he unconsciously translates what he hears into
something that he can understand. I would rather be reported
by my bitterest enemy among philosophers than by a friend
innocent of philosophy." (Russel, 2004:90).
"Nevertheless,
some of Xenophon's reminiscences are very convincing. He
tells (as Plato also does) how Socrates was continually
occupied with the problem of getting competent men into
positions of power. He would ask such questions as: 'If I
wanted a shoe mended, whom should I employ?' To which some
ingenuous youth would answer: 'A shoemaker, O Socrates.' He
would go on to carpenters, coppersmiths, etc., and finally
ask some such question as 'who should mend the Ship of
State?' When he fell into conflict with the Thirty Tyrants,
Critias, their chief, who knew his ways from having studied
under him, forbade him to continue teaching the young, and
added: 'You had better be done with shoemakers, carpenters
and coppersmiths. These must be pretty well trodden out at
heel by this time, considering the circulation you have
given them' (Xenophon, Memorabilia, Bk. I, chap. ii)."
(Russel, 2004:90).
"With Plato's
account of Socrates, the difficulty is quite a different one
from what it is in the case of Xenophon, namely, that it is
very hard to judge how far Plato means to portray the
historical Socrates, and how far he intends the person
called 'Socrates' in his dialogues to be merely the
mouthpiece of his own opinions. Plato, in addition to being
a philosopher, is an imaginative writer of great genius and
charm. No one suppposes, and he himself does not seriously
pretend, that the conversations in his dialogue took place
just as he records them." (Russel, 2004:90).
Russell wrote with
regard to Plato's dialogue, Apology: "He, however, proposed a fine
of thirty minae, for which some of his friends (including
Plato) were willing to go surety." (Russel, 2004:90). "After the verdict, and the
rejection of the alternative penalty of thirty minae (in
connection with which Socrates names Plato as one among his
sureties, and present in court), he makes one final speech."
(Russel, 2004:94).
In Apology at 33 to 34
Socrates talks about Plato, being present at the trial. From
this part of the dialogue much might be learnt about who was
Socrates's real friends and real enemies
(Plato, 2013:634). Was the alternative sentence, of 30
minae, Socrates suggested a sarcastic reference to "the
Thirty" tyrants, which perhaps included Aristotle. Today i
think that perhaps the younger generation, under te
influence of Critias, Plato's uncle, influenced, for
Socrates's trial.
18 June 2014
"Lying, Plato says
explicitly, is to be a perogative of the government, just as
giving medicine is of physicians. The government, as we have
already seen, is to deceive people in pretending to arrange
marriages by lot, but this is not a religious matter.
There is to be
'one royal lie,' which, Plato hopes, may deceive the rulers,
but will at any rate deceive the rest of the city. This
'lie' is set forth in considerable detail. The most
important part of it is the dogma that God has created men
of three kinds, the best made of gold, the second best of
silver, and the common herd of brass and iron." (Russell, 2004:115)
The Japanese for
example have been influenced much by functional
disinformation since 1868. They believe that "the Mikado is
descended from the sun-goddess". They also believe that
Japan was created before the rest of the world. Any Japanese
professor, who opposes this dogma will be dismissed.
According to Russell, Plato did not realise that such
functional disinformation is "incompatible with philosophy".
(Russell, 2004:115)
The opinion of
Russel about Plato's lies is based on Socrates's views in
the Republic.
According to Russel
Plato had a negative view of poetry
(Russell, 2004:117). Somewhere else i read that Plato
was from a line of poets, which can be compared with writing
of laws.
"Christ taught
that it is not wrong to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath,
but that it is wrong to hate your enemies." (Russell, 2004:119)
Russell's view about
Jesus is mistaken because Jesus's love was to not break the
law, like Socrates's. When they asked Jesus what love is, he
said it is a synthesis of the Old Testament laws and the
prophecies.
"Just as a
reflection of a bed in a mirror is only apparent and not
'real', so the various particular beds are unreal, being
only copies of the 'idea', which is the real bed, and is
made by God." (Russell, 2004:123). "We saw that God made only one bed" (Russell, 2004:125).
Plato's view of
education was against "utilitarian spirit"
(Russell, 2004:130).
Reverend Benjamin Jowett said
the following about Socrates:
"Even for many Christians, it is second only to the death of
Christ. 'There is nothing in any tragedy, ancient or modern,
nothing in poetry or history (with one exception), like the
last hours of Socrates in Plato.' " (Russell, 2004:132)
Russell writes
"Platonic Socrates's" ascetic life style was beneficial for
society but that he had "grave defects", which were
dishonesty and sophistry. His actions were "treachery to
truth" because he wanted to adjust the world to his view of
the truth, in an unscientific way, which acted against a
"disinterested search for knowledge."
(Russell, 2004:140-141)
In Timaeus the "very
stupidist will become fishes." (Russell, 2004:146).
This view of Plato who seems to have been more in line with
philosophers (Parmenides, Pythagoras etc.) around the Ionian
sea than the Miletians (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes etc.
Refer to Kenny's History
of philosophy). The references Plato made to
Heraclitus, who was an Ionian, therefore could have been in
opposition to Heraclitus if territoriality could be assumed
in Plato's philosophy.
23 June 2014
In Politics
by Aristotle: "We are told that
children should be conceived in winter, when the wind is in
the north; that there must be a careful avoidance of
indecency, because 'shameful words lead to shameful acts',
and that obscenity is never to be tolerated except in
temples, where the law permits even ribaldry."
(Russell, 2004:179-180) According to the New
Oxford American Dictionary 'ribaldry' refers to liscentious
talk and was derived from a Germanic word that means
prostitution.
"Democratic governments are
less liable to revolutions than oligarchies, because
oligarchs may fall out with each other. The oligarchs seem
to have been vigorous fellows. In some cities, we are told,
they swore an oath: 'I will be an enemy to the people, and
will devise all the harm against them which I can.' Nowadays
reactionaries are not so frank."
(Russell, 2004:184)
Whilst discussing
Aristotle's book Politics,
Russell wrote: "There is an interesting
section on tyranny. A tyrant desires riches, whereas a king
desires honour."
(Russell, 2004:185). What follows can be imagined.
Russell paraphrased Aristotle's writing in Politics about
education: "Children should learn
what is useful to them, but not vulgarizing; for instance,
they should not be taught any skill that deforms the body,
or that would enable them to earn money. They should
practise athletics in moderation, but not to the point of
acquiring professional skill; the boys who train for the
Olympic games suffer in health, as is shown by the fact that
those who have been victors as boys are hardly ever victors
as men." (Russell, 2004:186).
Aristotle's view of
the state was that it should "produce cultured gentleman—men
who combine the aristocratic mentality with love of learning
and the arts."
(Russell, 2004:187)
It seems that
despots are often involved with artistic endeavours.
27 June 2014
The morning and
evening star is the same star (Russell, 2004:204). The
only available book of Aristarchus, On the sizes and
distances of the sun and the moon, has a geocentric
view of totality (Russell, 2004:205). According to
Russell the moon is on average, 238 580 miles from
Earth and the sun 92 635 400 miles
(Russell, 2004:206-207).
25 July 2014
"Plato dabbled in
politics, though unsuccessfully. Xenophon, when he was
neither writing about Socrates nor being a country
gentleman, spent his spare time as a general."
(Russell, 2004:216)
"The temples, in
the Hellenistic world, were the bankers; they owned the gold
reserve, and controlled credit. In the early third century,
the temple of Apollo at Delos made loans at ten percent;
formerly the rate of interest had been higher."
(Russell, 2004:217). Russel read this in
and noted in a footnote: "'The
Social Question in the Third Century', by W.T. Tarn, in The Hellenistic Age
by various authors. Cambridge, 1923. This essay is
exceedingly interesting, and contains many facts not
elsewhere readily accessible." (Russell, 2004:217)
17 August 2014
"'Plato who would
not allow poets to dwell in a well governed city, showed
that his sole worth was better than those gods, that desire
to be honoured with stage-plays.'[1]"
(Russell, 2004:333)
10 September 2014
"The labour theory
of value—i.e. the doctrine that the value of a product
depends upon the labour expended upon it—which some
attribute to Karl Marx and others to Ricardo, is to be found
in Locke, and was suggested to him by a line of predecessors
stretching back to Aquinas. As Tawney says, summarizing
scholastic doctrine:
'The essence of
the argument was that payment may properly be demanded by
the craftsmen who make the goods, or by the merchants who
transport them, for both labour in their vocation and serve
the common need. The unpardonable sin is that of the
speculator or middleman, who snatches private gain by the
exploitation of public necessities. The true descendant of
the doctrine of Aquinas is the labour theory of value. The
last of the schoolmen was Karl Marx.' "
(Russell, 2004:578)
Adam Smith based his
arguments also on the labour theory of value. After the
above quote, Russel discusses the theory for about a page
and a half.
"The belief, which
one finds in Locke and in most writers of his time, that any
honest man can know what is just and lawful, is one that
does not allow for the strength of party bias on both sides,
or for the difficulty of establishing a tribunal, whether
outwardly or in men's consciences, that shall be capable of
pronouncing authoritatively on vexed questions. In practise,
such questions, if sufficiently important, are decided
simply by power, not by justice and law."
(Russell, 2004:580)
13 September 2014
Russell mentioned the "doctrine of
the general will", which is "both
important and obscure".
"The general will is not identical with the will
of the majority, or even with the will of all the citizens.
It seems to be conceived as the will belonging to the body
politic as such. If we take Hobbes's view, that a civil
society is a person, we must suppose it endowed with the
attributes of personality, including will. But then we are
faced with the difficulty of deciding what are the visible
manifestations of this will, and here Rousseau leaves us in
the dark. We are told that the general will is always right
and always tends to the public advantage; but that it does
not follow that the deliberations of the people are equally
correct, for there is often a great deal of difference
between the will of all and the general will. How, then, are
we to know what is the general will? There is, in the same
chapter, a sort of answer:
'If, when
the people, being furnished with adequate information, held
its deliberations, the citizens had no communication one
with another, the grand total of the small differences would
always give the general will, and the decision would always
be good.'
The
conception in Rousseau's mind seems to be this: every man's
political opinion is governed by self-interest, but
self-interest consists of two parts, one of which is
peculiar to the individual, while the other is common to all
the members of the community. If the citizens have no
opportunity of striking logrolling bargains with each other,
their individual interests, being divergent, will cancel
out, and there will be left a resultant which will represent
their common interest; this resultant is the general will."
(Russell, 2004:634)
"What we call
democracy he calls elective aristocracy; this, he [Rousseau] says, is the best of all governments, but it
is not suitable to all countries." (Russell, 2004:636)
15 September 2014
"The attitude of
man towards the non-human environment has differed
profoundly at different times. The Greeks, with their dread
of hubris and their belief in a Necessity or Fate superior
even to Zeus, carefully avoided what would have seemed to
them insolence towards the universe. The Middle Ages carried
submission much further: humility towards God was a
Christian's first duty. Initiative was cramped by this
attitude, and great originality was scarcely possible. The
Renaissance restored human pride, but carried it to the
point where it led to anarchy and disaster. Its work was
largely undone by the Reformation and the
Counter-reformation. But modern technique, while not
altogether favourable to the lordly individual of the
Renaissance, has revived the sense of the collective power
of human communities. Man, formerly too humble, begins to
think of himself as almost a God. The Italian pragmatist
Papini urges us to substitute the 'Imitation of God' for the
'Imitation of Christ'.
In all this I feel
a grave danger, the danger of what might be called cosmic
impiety. The concept of 'truth' as something dependent upon
facts largely outside human control has been one of the ways
in which philosophy hitherto has inculcated the necessary
element of humility. When this check upon pride is removed,
a further step is taken on the road towards a certain kind
of madness—the intoxication of power which invaded
philosophy with Fichte, and to which modern men, whether
philosophers or not, are prone. I am persuaded that this
intoxication is the greatest danger of our time, and that
any philosophy which, however unintentionally, contributes
to it is increasing the danger of vast social disaster."
(Russell, 2004:737)
"Morally, a
philosopher who uses his professional competence for
anything except a disinterested search for truth is guilty
of a kind of treachery. And when he assumes, in advance of
inquiry, that certain beliefs, whether true or false, are
such as to promote good behaviour, he is so limiting the
scope of philosophical speculation as to make philosophy
trivial; the true philosopher is prepared to examine all
preconceptions. … Take such questions as: What is number?
What are space and time? What is mind, and what is matter? I
do not say that we can here and now give definitive answers
to all these ancient questions, but I do say that a method
has been discovered by which, as in science, we can make
successive approximations to the truth, in which each new
stage results from an improvement, not a rejection, of what
has gone before.
In the welter of
conflicting fanaticism, one of the few unifying forces is
scientific truthfulness, by which I mean the habit of basing
our beliefs upon observations and inferences as impersonal,
and as much divested of local and temperamental bias, as is
possible for human beings." (Russell, 2004:743-744)
Bibliography
New Oxford American
Dictionary. 2005-20011. (Apple Inc.,
version 2.2.1 (143.1))
PLATO. 2013. Apology. (In PLATO. 2013. The
republic
and other dialogues of Plato, pp. 609-640. New York:
Barnes & Noble)
RUSSELL, B. 2004. History of western
philosophy. (London and New York: Routledge
Classics)