Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead once collaborated on a book. It was a three-volume work entitled “Principia Mathematica” – not to be confused with the similarly-named work by Isaac Newton. Both Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead were mathematicians, as well as philosophers. They had a lot in common. But they would diverge significantly in their later years, in religion and politics as well as in philosophy. This audiobook covers both of them, although it may cover Bertrand Russell even more.
Alfred North Whitehead was born in England in 1861. Bertrand Russell was born in Wales in 1872. Thus, both men were British philosophers from approximately the same era. Whitehead was one of Mr. Russell’s professors, and was much impressed with his protégé. This is part of what led them to collaborate on “Principia Mathematica” in the 1910s. But their collaboration was disrupted (and eventually ended) by World War One. Alfred North Whitehead supported the war effort, and had sons serving in the war. One of Whitehead’s sons even served in the Royal Air Force, and was eventually killed in action. But Bertrand Russell opposed the war, and was even briefly jailed for his opposition to the war. Like the Woodrow Wilson administration in America, David Lloyd George’s administration cracked down on local dissent during World War One. Even those who support their prosecution of the war are often horrified by this crackdown on free speech and freedom of conscience. Regardless, the two men never returned to collaborating on this work, and thus never got to finish the work’s fourth volume – which they had originally planned to write.
Alfred North Whitehead
Each of these men wrote a number of works of his own. Each of them had an agnostic portion of his life, but Whitehead soon returned to the Christianity of his childhood. By contrast, Bertrand Russell became an atheist, and was a vocal critic of religion. Bertrand Russell also opposed the Cold War, particularly in the nuclear weapons buildup by both sides. Bertrand Russell was also a critic of the Vietnam War. He saw himself as very scientific, and wrote works on the philosophy of science. But he seems to have failed to understand how science works. Some of this comes from his being trained in mathematics, rather than science itself. I found myself agreeing far more often with Whitehead, especially in his philosophy of science. Alfred North Whitehead was more sympathetic with the American pragmatic philosophers, such as William James. I have reservations about certain aspects of pragmatism, and with the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. But I agree with these things far more often than Bertrand Russell’s analytic philosophy. In fairness, though, I agree somewhat more with Mr. Russell’s other contributions with logic and set theory.
Bertrand Russell
Alfred North Whitehead died in 1947, while Bertrand Russell only died in 1970. This is why, as mentioned earlier, Bertrand Russell was able to comment on the Vietnam War. Alfred North Whitehead is best known for his statement that “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” This is about the only thing that I knew about Whitehead before listening to this audiobook. Again, this audiobook focuses more on Bertrand Russell than on Alfred North Whitehead. But it does provide some helpful insights into both of these men. This audiobook is more sympathetic with Bertrand Russell than I would be, but I still enjoyed it, and would agree that its author was an expert on both men. Thus, this audiobook was a good way to spend some time, and helped me to find a better understanding of both nineteenth-and twentieth-century philosophy.
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