18 May is the birthday of philosophical legend Bertrand Russell. Bryan Pickel, lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, explains what any budding philosopher needs to know about Russell’s work.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a 20th-century philosopher, whose work covered virtually all areas of philosophy. He wrote prolifically on topics including the foundations of mathematics, the structure of language, the nature of thought, the status of science in society, and sexual ethics. His work is a starting point in many areas both within philosophy and in other disciplines such as linguistics. Russell was known for regularly changing his mind, often starting on one side of a debate but winding up on the other just a few years later. One of Russell’s most important contributions was his discovery of the paradox of classes, aka Russell’s paradox. Continue reading →