Bertrand Russell &
A.N. Whitehead

Narrated by Lynn Redgrave

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Voltaire and Rousseau

The 20th century English philosophers Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead will be forever linked by their collaboration of Principia Mathematica, a three volume technical work that used purely logical premises in an attempt to deduce the structure of arithmetic and algebra. Whitehead and Russell both admired the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, and in their own ways both were dedicated to the Platonist ideals of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. However, assessing their attitudes on other issues is a study in contrasts:

Whitehead

• A metaphysician whose system requires God, and who respected the cultural role of religious institutions.
• Preferred to work within society's institutions.
• Supported England in World War I.
• Reticent about private matters.
• An academic of serious demeanor.
• Sought breadth and esthetic satisfaction.
• Appealed to direct experience.
• Saw harmony in nature and all human experience.
• Leaned toward rationalism.

• Had an organic view of nature.

Russell

• A skeptic who rejected institutional religion altogether.
• Rejected many social institutions and practices.
• Pacifist and critic of all war-making.
• Wrote extensively about his life and loves.
• An itinerant and popular writer, clever, and flippant.
• Primarily sought meaning and certainty.
• Affirmed a kind of scientific knowledge that eliminates the personal & emotional.
• Saw harmony primarily (almost exclusively) in mathematics.
• Leaned toward empiricism.
• Had a mechanistic view of nature

On two audiotapes - about three hours in length.
Narrator: Lynn Redgrave
Author: Professor Paul Kuntz
Editor: Professor John Lachs and Wendy McElroy
Publisher: Knowledge Products, Inc.

This title is part of the Audio Classics Series by Knowledge Products. Knowledge Products publishes a variety of audio presentations on the great ideas and events of history.