The Problems of Philosophy

Bertrand Russel's mental rigour and eloquence is abundant throughout this book as he writes about things people have taken for granted for centuries, and casts them in an entirely new light.

It was nice to have some of shower thoughts answered! I’ve read another book by the author about history of western philosophy and both a great reads. That one gave me the historical perspective on how the history of philosophy was developed, while this one focuses on what is on the agenda right now.

Um livro de introdução à filosofia moderna, simplesmente brilhante. Não é por acaso que Bernard Russell recebeu o Nobel em 1950, a sua capacidade expositiva e empática, para dar conta de problemáticas complexas - como a realidade, verdade, conhecimento, método científico, entre outros - é impressionante. Ao longo de pouco mais de 100 páginas, Russell apresenta, num modo de grande simplicidade, alguns dos temas mais relevantes, de sempre, da filosofia, convidando-nos para o debate. É verdade que nem sempre o discurso é fácil, mas isso não se deve a um problema de forma de Russell, mas a um problema de conteúdo, inerente à complexidade dos assuntos em questão. Ainda assim acredito que este pequeno livro poderá servir no instigar e despertar de muitas mentes jovens para a filosofia. Está tudo aqui, embora não passe de uma ponta do novelo, que precisa de ser continuado para se poder desvelar por completo. “The ‘practical’ man, as this word is often used, is one who recognizes only material needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind. If all men were well off, if poverty and disease had been reduced to their lowest possible point, there would still remain much to be done to produce a valuable society and even in the existing world the goods of the mind are at least as important as the goods of the body. It is exclusively among the goods of the mind that the value of philosophy is to be found; and only those who are not indifferent to these goods can be persuaded that the study of philosophy is not a waste of time.” Bertrand Russell in “The Problems of Philosophy"

A beautiful attempt to reconsider our understanding of reality, knowledge and truth. Russell is opening the book by consideration on appearance and reality, discussing the issue of perspective, and at the end denying idealism for notion that material objects exist outside of mind and that they are real. However, we are not acquiainted with most of it. His introduction of “sense-data” is essential for understanding his considerations of matter. It leaves the reader with sense that the objective reality exists, but so does the prison of self. I particularly enjoyed his elegant argumentation on derivative and intuitive knowledge of truth. However, his introduction of laws of thought I do not find something a thought must obey to (quantum physics already have broken *law of contradiction*). Overall, I think his argumentation is very sound (do not mistake with true). I would suggest this book for you as a starter for considerations how you project reality, how you know what you know and how you know that it is true?!

I thought that this book was quite good. I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of the language and my ability to follow the arguments, but I found that I was able to follow without too much trouble. Obviously, multiple readings should help, but I thought it was a good introduction to the subject of philosophy (since I am just a student starting out). I liked the examples that made the arguments concrete, and I look forward to reading more of Russell's work.