Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth century who was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 as a gratitude to his writings on humanitarian ideals, pacifism, logic, mathematics, history and analytical thinking.

Bertrand Russell was brought up in an influential liberal household of Viscount and Viscountess Amberley. His father asked the philosopher John Stuart Mill to act as his godfather who was a prominent free thinking intellectual of his time. The writings of John Stuart had influence on Bertrand Russell himself.

“I would not die for my beliefs as I could be wrong”

Bertrand Russell married Miss Alys Pearsall Smith in 1894 and went to live with her I Haslemere. He was influenced by the work of Italian mathematician Peano. He worked on the work of Peano and Frege and wrote his book The Principles of Mathematics along with his friends Dr. Alfred Whitehead.

Bertrand Russell was a pacifist, anti-imperialist and an anti-war activist. He was sentenced to six months in prison for a pacifist article he wrote in the Tribunal in 1918. Bertrand Russell was of the opinion that war against Hitler was the ‘’Lesser of the two evil’’.

“War does not determine who is right but only who is left”

He was highly critical of Stalin totalitarianism. Bertrand Russell advocated against the involvement of US in the Vietnam War.

“I hate the world and almost all the people in it. I hate the Labour Congress and the journalists who send men to be slaughtered, and the fathers who feel a smug pride when their sons are killed, and even the pacifists who keep saying human nature is essentially good, in spite of all the daily proofs to the contrary. I hate the planet and the human race—I am ashamed to belong to such a species.” 
_Bertrand Russell, The Auto Biography of Bertrand Russell