Bertrand Russell: Life, Career, and Contributions

Running head: BERTRANT RUSSELL
Bertrand Russell
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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1BERTRAND RUSSELL
Abstract
This paper intends to give an overview of the life and the career of one of the greatest figures
of the 20th century, Bertrand Russell. He made significant contributions in the field of
philosophy, mathematics and literature. It was in view of the contributions made by him in
the diverse fields of learning that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 1950. This
particular paper will also provide an overview of his ideas related to religion, society and also
about the early part of his life. The paper will also take into consideration his association with
the mathematical group which enabled him to write his masterpiece.
Keywords-Russell, philosophy, society, religion, literature

2BERTRAND RUSSELL
“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for
love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”
The above quoted lines of Bertrand Russell clearly outline the nature of his work and
the thought process which guided his major philosophical work. It is to be noted that the
genre of philosophy is a very wide one and keeps on changing keeping in view the changing
nature of the philosophical subject itself (Rodríguez-Consuegra). Therefore, one particular
aspect of philosophy which was acceptable at one point of time might not be acceptable at
another point of time. In the opinion of George Bernard Shaw articulated in his famous play
“Man and Superman” “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man”. This statement of Shaw is a pertinent account of the opinion which the
people commonly hold against the philosophers. This particular paper intends to shed light on
the persona of Bertrand Russell and his philosophies.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (1892-1970) was born in the
Monmouthshire area of the United Kingdom (Fritz Jr). He hailed from an aristocratic family
and therefore received the best quality of education which was available at that particular
point of time (Fritz Jr). He is one of the major philosophers of his time and many of the
philosophies propounded by him are still in use today. In his own opinion, he was “a liberal, a
socialist and a pacifist however in the later part of his life he said that he “had never been any
of these things, in any profound sense” (Russell). However, in the recent times he is more
famous as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1950 (Nobelprize.org). He
studied at the Trinity College, Cambridge and later taught at the same college. He is also
famous as the teacher of the famous poet and critic T.S. Eliot and for having an affair with
the wife of Eliot Vivienne Haigh-Wood (Fritz Jr). It is to be noted that this particular affair
caused a considerable amount of trauma to Eliot and was responsible for the nervous