The Passionate Bertrand Russell

Peter Stone reveals the deep and varied passions of the analytic philosopher.

- Peter Stone

Philosophy today is intimately associated with the life of the mind – with intellect, thought, and reason.Because of this, it is often thought to be opposed to emotion, feeling, spirit – to passion. It is thought to be a bloodless occupation, practiced by bloodless men and women. This has a lot to do with how philosophy has come to be practiced in universities, particularly the analytic philosophy which has dominated the Anglo-American philosophy world over the past century. And perhaps nobody is more closely associated with analytic philosophy than Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). As such, one might expect Russell to be the exact opposite of the man of passion. And indeed, many people have viewed Russell this way. Will Durant, for example, once described Russell as “cold-blooded… a temporarily animated abstraction, a formula with legs” (The Story of Philosophy, 1926, p.519). But was Russell really such a stranger to passion?

In fact, the opposite is the case. Russell’s life is actually very instructive about the relationship between reason and passion. For Russell proved that a life of the mind can be fully compatible with a life of great passion and adventure. He managed to fit more passion into his life than most people could handle. (It probably helped that he lived to be ninety-seven years old.)

Of course, there’s no place for passion in your life unless you can find something about which to be passionate. What were Russell’s passions? In the opening words of his Autobiography, Russell tells us that

“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.” (The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell: Volume I, 1967).