"A Philosophical Journey: Bertrand Russell's Ideas with Will Durant"

Join us for an enlightening journey into the world of Bertrand Russell's philosophy, guided by the insightful wisdom of Will Durant. In this captivating video, Durant unravels the intricate web of Russell's philosophical ideas, shedding light on the life, works, and enduring impact of one of the 20th century's greatest thinkers.
🔍 What You'll Discover:
Introduction to Bertrand Russell: Gain insights into the life and background of Bertrand Russell, understanding the experiences that shaped his intellectual journey.
Russell's Contributions to Philosophy: Explore the diverse realms of philosophy that Russell made significant contributions to, from logic and mathematics to ethics and political theory.
The Principia Mathematica: Learn about Russell's groundbreaking work with Alfred North Whitehead on "Principia Mathematica" and its influence on the foundations of mathematics.
Analytic Philosophy: Discover how Russell played a pivotal role in the development of analytic philosophy, emphasizing precision, logic, and the analysis of language.
Russell's Views on Religion: Delve into Russell's famous essay "Why I Am Not a Christian" and his skeptical stance on religious beliefs.
Influence on Contemporary Thought: Durant examines Russell's lasting influence on philosophy, science, and social justice movements.

[@sebastianmelmoth7331]

I love Will Durant

[@phrenzy1]

I thought I knew everything durant had written, but I had never heard of this series. Fantastic! Thanks very much for uploading it, I'm probably the biggest Will Durant fan on the face of the planet. Having Alexander Adams reading it is a real bonus too.

[@ravindradewan2687]

I am also a fan of Will Durant. #RavindraDewan

[@theenglishzzz]

I'm Sparticus sorry, wrong person.. I too am a big Will Durant Fan.

[@danlhendl]

Durant is a Genius

[@SWCmytube]

Love Durant! This is one of my favorite channels. I’ve listened to many of them twice. 🖤

[@bb1111116]

This essay is taken from Will Durant’s book, “The Story of Philosophy”.

[@not2tees]

Will Durant is a generalist and so it is not to be expected that in his study of philosophy over millennia, he will be at all able to cover any one philosopher in sufficient detail to please enthusiasts of the given philosopher. I like Durant for what he does do, which is provide appealing sketches of his many subjects, serving chiefly as basic introductions.

[@danilthorstensson8902]

This reads like an essay

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

"...to please enthusiasts..." Interesting. It seems if Will Durant wanted to please philosophy enthusiast, he aught to have done something different than The Story of Philosophy. Opposite; if he did want to please philosophy enthusiast; what would that look like? I am ignorant to what is pleasing to a philosophy enthusiast. How about those whom are not...enthusiast? Are they below as well? Since the reward they receive is nothing more than an introduction. I guess I have been presuaded, O.P. Everyone aught to give up since "sufficient detail" can not be achieved. Do not even bother, the "enthusiast" is not satisfied.

[@JackSmith-up7qt]

Further more will rejected "specialization of history". "Impossible to effectively understand ww2 with no understanding of ww1, which can't be understood without knowledge of the Franco Prussian war and so on and so forth(or back rather)"

[@PennyDreadful1]

Yeah he is good at giving you an overview of history in general. Like Bill Bryson and Yuval Noah Harari.

[@blahblahblahblah2837]

​@@xxcoopcoopxx I agree with OP. I like Durant. I am not an 'enthusiast' of philosophy, but I have used Durant's series as a sort of tasting platter for philosophy and ideas, with biographical context to decide if I like the philosophers as people, whereafter I can choose to study the philosophies (or biographies) in more depth if they strike a chord with me. Basically, Durant gives me everything I need to know, as a complete ignoramous, to either satisfy or spark my curiosity.

[@thebeelight]

this is beautiful!

[@hammadgill3998]

Thank you Rocky c

[@brushbros]

Russell's grandfather ( who raised him after both parents died when he was two) also met Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814 on the island of Elba.

[@eisenjeisen6262]

Thank you for the upload, i have been raving about B. Russell a long time, somebody above most be looking out for me, Russell, the greatest man who ever lived!

[@eisenyeo]

Agreed

[@maryannking5491]

Ah...Russell was a tad egotistical and ruined a man far better than he, Henry Bergson.

[@natesmith3949]

It’s great to hear Durant writing of someone who was his contemporary. This is also seems to be a premature evaluation of Russel’s philosophy as we haven’t heard his post WW2 viewpoint. It’s also interesting that it ends with Russel’s idealization of China. I doubt he would have supported Mao and the cultural revolution.

[@DawsonSWilliams]

Dismissing Bergson, underestimating Santayana, unable to appreciate cinema, advocating nuclear weapons, then turning pacifist... Thankfully Wittgenstein was able to learn logic and mathematics from Russell, just enough to exceed him. Russell's "History of Western Philosophy" is a profound lesson in misreading the western canon.

[@sebastianmelmoth7331]

Grover Gardner is one of the best narrators of all time

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

What beautiful writing.

[@ravindradewan2687]

What an excellent talk. #RavindraDewan

[@VenusLover17]

Thanks so much

[@goognamgoognw6637]

Decent analysis of Will Durant, but his analytic and especially oratorial skills cannot compare with Russel. Russel is so eloquent and treats each word with gentleness that even when disagreeing entirely with his ideas one still takes pleasure in listening to him.

[@yogsenforfoth5948]

Durant was the USA’s best attempt at a philosopher/historian of Russell’s ilk.

[@asoulist4829]

Durant Inspired Russell's writing and Russell inspired Durant's writing

[@LaureanoLuna]

One would vainly hope to learn about Russell's philosophy here. Durant prefers to put forth his personal psychological analysis of Russell.

[@SteveRunciman]

+Laureano Luna It's sad -- I thought Durant was a socialist but after listening to this I see he was a deeply conservative man. Also, he didn't seem to appreciate mathematics.

[@martinledermann1862]

+Laureano Luna Check out Durant's psychoanalysis of Nietzche, you'll have a laugh. ;)

[@martinledermann1862]

***** Bertie didn't focus as strongly on Nietzsche's biography as Durant did and was less condescending in his remarks.

[@martinledermann1862]

***** I said "(not) as strongly" compared to Will Durant, at least in my view. ;)

[@grosbeak6130]

+Democracy The the way Bertrand Russell here in this mock dialogue between Buddha and Nietzsche portrays their character and philosophy is remarkably two dimensional and self-serving, and misleading and presumptuous at times. Russell here is merely just presenting a caricature of both of them.

[@whatwasthequestion4051]

My top 3 Russell, Socrates, and Pythagoras.

[@firstal3799]

Plato, Kant and Spinoza

[@sebastianmelmoth7331]

@@firstal3799 Spinoza, always!

[@myothersoul1953]

Bertrand Russell - one of the great minds and moralist of the 20th century.

[@slappy8941]

Fuck moralists.

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

The Story of Philosophy Bertrand Russell - pg. 518-529

[@deanedge5988]

Superb

[@yogsenforfoth5948]

Durant respected Russell SO much. They actually had a public forum debate way back in the 40’s, but no dictation exists of it, unfortunately.

[@timeisfleeting2452]

Yes, that sounds about right, and Russell, known for his roving eye, tried to hit on Durant's wife, as I recall it. Durant tells of it in his dual autobiography with his wife Ariel.

[@edgregory1]

He and Kurt Gödel had a disagreement. What was it about?

[@firstal3799]

From the protozoan to the philosopher.

[@williambrooke8263]

Russell has an amazing way of bringing out the wonder which lies just below the surface of our everyday experience, and for such a genius to be able to do so in a way that pretty much anyone can understand is an incredible gift. Here's a nice video on his thoughts on Appearance vs Reality: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnPXXneEbLlpeZo

[@holisticpsychologybyobrien]

Is the person reading also Will Durant?

[@maryannking5491]

Alexander Adams is the reader.

[@JB-uv4hm]

@@maryannking5491 Grover Gardner.

[@Coach_Dustin_C]

which one is it?

[@JB-uv4hm]

@@Coach_Dustin_C The person reading this version is absolutely Grover Gardner. Go to Audible and find a sample.

[@jaqatlantic]

@@Coach_Dustin_C They are the same person, are they not?

[@mouhdz2158]

لا يمكنني ان اثق في عقل يرى ان بداهة المنطق الرياضي اقوى من بداهة الخيال الشعري ... ففي النهاية مالذي يجعل 1+1 اقوى من حكايات الجدة حول نار الشتاء ! ثم ماهو الفرق الجوهري بين ديكتاتورية المنطق الرياضي وديكتاتورية المنطق اللاهوتي وكيف تكون الارقام مرادفا للوضوح ومن اين حصل راسل على كل هذه الثقة التي تجعله لايشك لحظة زاحدة ان ( الوضوح ) هو المطلب العزيز المطلب الشديد الالحاح على القلب الانساني ؟ !

[@kamilbro6106]

الاختلاف هو ، بالنسبة إلى الشخص المنطقي الذي أصيب في العمق .... الرقم 1 في مثالك الساذج 1 + 1 له اللانهائي بينما يكون دقيقًا تمامًا. هذا هو 1 = 1.000000000 .... في كل مكان في الكون! بدلا من حكاياتك الخيالية أو حتى تراجعت المخازن التي تضعف بوضوح.

[@benu7930]

5:25

[@firstal3799]

A formula with legs.

[@AudioPervert1]

Love ..... And then extinction

[@friedrichschopenhauer2900]

Durant annoys me. He talks to personally about these men, and mostly ignores their ideas.

[@caminhosdasindiasmusic8311]

I like Durant because he dismantled white racists of the west. Russel was one of them and warmonger.

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

You go get the published books of what Will Durant is talking about to get the ideas. He does not ignore them at all. You do.

[@davidgonzalez-herrera2980]

@@xxcoopcoopxx Durant has lied several times. He is a 33 degree freemason. He is not to be trusted.

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

@@davidgonzalez-herrera2980 You just lied and are not to be trusted.

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

@@davidgonzalez-herrera2980 Needs attention. Baby needs his bottle.

[@myothersoul1953]

8:20 Will Durant's dismissive tone of mathematics is off the mark. Will Durant filled volumes with words but mathematics describes the universe in a precise and useful manor. A few simple equations are more powerful and insightful then all Durant's clever prose. Well, except for exciting the passions of simple humans, flowery talk is always better for such fools. Durant either mistakenly or on purpose leaves the listener thinki Russell was a communist. He wasn't a communist any more than he was a Christian. After all he did write "why communism must fail". Was Durant miffed because of Russell's take down of Christianity?

[@goognamgoognw6637]

You are a little harsh, but i too, dislike Durant's dismissive tone on mathematics. I can hear Durant's weaknesses of ideas and inability to expose them with breath. He sounds like a worm hastily digging a narrow hole, his words are strained and when he is done with a sentence, there is no resonance, no measure, it sounds empty. So then he quickly starts another. Like a footman, trying to speak through a half closed door. Russel had such serenity in his handle of language and formulation that his words conjured images of birds landing each on a branch in delicate perfection. There was a manner about him that was so poised and admirable in calmness of thought and interior discipline.

[@Mentox2]

Mathematics is a description of nothing but itself, it is by coincidence that we can use it to model our scientific theories but one should be careful not to confuse, as many do, the model with reality.

[@goognamgoognw6637]

@@Mentox2 Is your affirmation uttered in a mathematical sense or is it parlor loose talk ? Either way, it is arbitrary, unless you transcended all mathematics, arrogance alone does not give you credence to define what mathematics is relative to the universe. I have always found that talkers without much intelligence are quick to dismiss mathematics probably due to their inability to comprehend more than basic levels of it.

[@Mentox2]

@@goognamgoognw6637 Im not dismissing mathematics, i´ve dedicated myself to understanding the basics of it and especially of its philosophical implications, i am, merely, speaking from the philosophical perspective, that is, i believe that mathematics isn´t spatiotemporal and has no bearing on the universe, but by recourse to analogical thinking, can be used to describe a model of the universe in such a way that i may look to some that numbers, such as Pythagoras had suggested, is part of the nature of the universe, but to believe this is to believe mathematics is, somehow, a physical, concrete thing and not what it truly is, that is, an abstraction.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

@ yes. I have had occasion to reprimand my footman for that several times . Rather irritating . I may have to let him go.

[@charleslynching]

"Durant prefers to put forth his personal psychological analysis of Russell."BECAUSE THAT ALL THERE IS hes another English Talker and thats all

[@christopheroehrli902]

Poetry in Motion Durant was an American.

[@slappy8941]

Uh, what?

[@DSAK55]

Russell is still discussed, but no one give a shit about Durant

[@jaroslawszlaszynski1887]

The most overrated philosopher/logician he was mediocre.

[@ivanbarbosa81]

He must have been a very boring, arrogant man...i presume.

[@jamesoliver6625]

Two fools.

[@BertrandRussell2]

‘’Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy… It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. Diet, injections(vaccines) and injunctions will combine, from very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible...’’ - Bertrand Russell, 1953 He wants to Bring about the New World Order and make the world into 1984. Wake Up He's Controlled Op. Cointelpro. And A Dedicated Satanist Still Gives A lot of Good Advice though.