Who was Bertrand Russell?

From unhappy boy to philosopher of happiness

It is always amazing to see how the biographies of great men determine much of what would become their world-views and, in the case of philosophers, their life’s work. Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) is no exception.

I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, “Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy”… and began the work for “The Analysis of Mind”. I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence as was shown by their having been caught. (Bertrand Russell (1998). “8: The First War”. Autobiography. Psychology Press. p. 256.)

From quotes like this one can immediately see Bertrand Russell’s attitude towards life: distanced, cool, haughty even. But also, at the same time, sympathetic towards those who did not have his own privilege. And also another thing: whenever something went wrong in his life, Russell turned to mathematics as a way to escape.

This began early: his mother died when he was two years old; his father when he was four. His grandfather two years later again, so that Russell had to be raised by his paternal grandmother. He wasn’t happy living alone with her and he often contemplated suicide as a boy. In his books, he states that it was only his fascination for mathematics that kept him alive. When he was eleven…

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