I have been insanely busy and travelling all week. This will continue tomorrow, hopefully reaching a peak so that things will mellow out a bit into the weekend.
The remainder of this post is for the gentleman who, when challenged by me today asked me with a straight face “You don’t need proof that 1+1=2, do [...]
That’s the video for the World Party song Is It Like Today?.
The reason it’s here: it’s explicitly inspired by, and intended to be a precis of, Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy.
Lyrics after the jump:
I am learning much about growing old. Thirty-five years ago I was lately married, childless, very happy, and beginning to taste the joys of success. Family appeared to me as an external power hampering to freedom: the world, to me, was a world of individual adventure. I wanted to think my own thoughts, find my [...]
For your edification tonight, I present three essays by old Bertie, in audio form. A couple of hours of listening that might expand your mind.
(It’s not him doing the reading–his voice, which I may share with you later–was not nearly as appealing as this reader’s.)
The essays are:
What I Believe: This is the big one–Russell [...]
To make up for posting stuff from my “million words you write and bury under a tree” yesterday, I’m going to post some Russell today.
Specifically, here’s Russell on why philosophy is worth studying:
Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a [...]
I’ve added random quote functionality to the sidebar, and so far I’ve just fed in something like 30 choice Bertrand Russell quotes. I haven’t decided yet whether or not I intend to add other authors, or just keep deepening the Russell quote collection. You’ll see it at the top of the sidebar.
You will also see [...]
So, one of the things I told myself I would do in 2006 is spend a lot more time writing about Bertrand Russell [wikipedia], or rather about his works, on this blog. Russell, you may recall, is one of my biggest heroes, to the extent that there are multiple images of him around the house.
Writing [...]
What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with a belief that the torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin or by a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer.
—Bertrand Russell
One of the fun new things about moving to WP1.5 is that I can integrate static pages with the blog.
I wrote the first such page, which you will see listed over on the right under ‘Pages’, on the weekend, in response to the most common question I get about the blog: What’s up with [...]
You are currently browsing the archives for the Me & Bertie category.
Kit OConnell
Mr. McLaren
KiraMr. McLaren
GwendaMr. McLaren
b3n
James DavidMr. McLaren
Sharon