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Life
He invented modern logic and analytic philosophy in a small German university town, and almost no one noticed for twenty years.
He spent the first half of his career inventing analytic philosophy and the second half annoying governments. Both projects lasted.
Connection
Gottlob Frege built the logic Russell needed Bertrand Russell — Russell discovered Frege's Begriffsschrift in 1900 and recognized it as the most important work in logic since Aristotle. He then sent Frege the letter describing the paradox that broke the Basic Laws.
Ideas
Words
“Never let us take a description of the origin of an idea for a definition, or an account of the mental conditions on which we become conscious of a proposition for a proof of it.”
“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”
“Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”
Key Moments
1874
Forty years at Jena
June 1902
Russell's paradox destroys the Basic Laws
1910-13
Principia Mathematica with Whitehead
1918
Imprisoned for anti-war activism
July 1955
Russell-Einstein Manifesto for nuclear disarmament
Works
The Foundations of Arithmetic
The Problems of Philosophy