Bertrand Russell: Cognitivism, Non-Cognitivism and Ethical Critical Thinking

Authors

  • Angelo Nicolaides University of South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/1953

Keywords:

Ethics, cognitivism, non-cognitivism, utilitarianism, desire

Abstract

Bertrand Russell converted from ethical cognitivism to ethical non-cognitivism and this was historically important, as it gave rise in part, to meta-ethics. It also clarified the central problem between cognitivism and non-cognitivism. Russell’s view was that defining “good†is the basic problem of ethics. If “good†is not amorphous, the rest of ethics will follow. He did not believe in ethical knowledge per se and asserted that reason is, and must only be, the servant of desire. A factual statement is thus true if there is an equivalent fact, but as ethical statements do not state facts, there is no issue of a corresponding fact or the statement being true or false in the sense in which factual statements are. Ethics has no statement whether true or false, but consists only of desires of a general kind and people know intuitively what is “right†or “wrongâ€. To Russell critical thinking is entrenched in the structure of philosophy. His epistemological conviction was that knowledge is difficult to attain, while his ethical conviction showed that people should be expected to exercise freedom of inquiry when arriving at conclusions of something being either “good†or “badâ€.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Bentham, J. 1907. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. 1907. Library of Economics and Liberty. http://www.econlib.org/library/Bentham/bnthPML0.html (accessed 2 March 2016).

Cassirer, E. 1953. Substance and Function. First edition of the English translation of Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff: 1923 (First German edition 1910). New York: Dover, 44.

Egner, R. E., and Dennon, L. E. (Ed). 1961. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Fraenkel, A., Bar-Hillel, Y., Levy, A., and Van Dalen, D. 1973. Foundations of Set Theory (2nd revised edition). Amsterdam: North Holland, 186.

Garvey, J., and Stangroom, J. 2012. The Story of Philosophy: A history of Western thought. London: Quercus Editions, 359–365.

Griffin, N. (Ed). 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Bertrand Russell. Cambridge University Press, 85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521631785

Kreisel, G. 1973. “Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Earl Russell: 1872–970.†Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 19: 583–526. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1973.0021. JSTOR 769574 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1973.0021

Ludlow, P. 2008. Descriptions, the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 edition). Edited by Edward N. Zalta. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470757031.ch16

Myhill, J. 1952. “Some Philosophical Implications of Mathematical Logic.†The Review of Metaphysics, VI (2), December: 182.

Nath, R. 1993. The Ethical Philosophy of Bertrand Russell. New York: Vantage Press.

Potter, M. K. 2006. Bertrand Russell’s Ethics. London and New York: Continuum.

Russell and Whitehead – 20th Century Mathematics: The Story of Mathematics. http://www. storyofmathematics.com/20th_russell.html (accessed 15 January 2016).

Russell, B. 1927a. An Outline of Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin.

Russell, B. 1927b. Philosophy. New York: W. W. Norton, 299.

Russell, B. 1940. An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

Russell, B. 1948. “Whitehead and Principia Mathematica,†Mind, 57: 137–138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/LVII.226.137

Russell, B. 1949. Religion and Science. London: Oxford University Press.

Russell, B. 1953. “The Place of Science in a Liberal Education.†In Mysticism and Logic. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 41.

Russell, B. 1954. Human Society in Ethics and Politics. London: G. Allen and Unwin, 212.

Russell, B.1956a. “John Stuart Mill.†In Portraits from Memory. London: George Allen and Unwin, 131.

Russell, B.1956b. The Principles of Mathematics. London: George Allen and Unwin, 119 (First published in 1903, 2nd 1937, 7th edition 1956).

Russell, B. 1957. “The Value of Free Thought,†In Understanding History. New York: Philosophical Library, 73.

Russell, B. 1961. History of Western Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin, 69

Russell, B. 1965. “Freedom and the Colleges.†In Why I am not a Christian. New York: Simon and Schuster, 178–182.

Russell, B. 1977. Education and the Social Order. London: Unwin, 141.

Russell, B. 1978. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell. London: Unwin Paperbacks.

Russell, B. 1985. “Free Thought and Official Propaganda.†In Skeptical Essays. London: Unwin, 117.

Russell, B. 1995. “Human Character and Social Institutions.†In The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. Edited by Richard A. Rempel et al. (volume 14). London: Routledge, 419–425.

Russell, B. 1997. “Philosophy.†In The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell (volume 11). Edited by John G. Slater., London: Routledge, 223.

Santayana, G. 1913. Winds of Doctrine. London: J. M. Dent and Sons.

Downloads

Published

2017-08-31

How to Cite

Nicolaides, Angelo. 2017. “Bertrand Russell: Cognitivism, Non-Cognitivism and Ethical Critical Thinking”. Phronimon 18:1-14. https://doi.org/10.25159/2413-3086/1953.

Issue

Section

Research Articles
Received 2016-11-25
Accepted 2017-02-08
Published 2017-08-31