User Profile

Rather, The Problems of Philosophy, a more apt title might be, The Problems of Philosophers. In an attempt to not get tied up in a Gordian knot, Russell provides a brief, sequential study into the conundrum of perspective and truth, and how philosophical ideologies have tried to deal with it. The book was written in 1911, and Russell states in an afterword written in 1924, that some of his views had changed since the first writing but has kept the book as it is, as a progression of thought. Throughout, he mostly ignores language, which is a shame, but he does set aside some attention to it in the chapter, How A Priori Knowledge Is Possible. Some passages seem to spring straight out of a Dr Seuss book, such as, "Thus, when we are acquainted with an object which is the so-and-so, we know that the so-and-so exists; but we may know that the so-and-so exists when we are not acquainted with any object which we know to be the so-and-so, and even when we are not acquainted with any object which, in fact, is the so-and-so."

Much of the book feels like Russell, working stuff out on the spot, applies in his knowledge of Kant, Plato, Hegel, Leibniz &c, to elucidate his examples. For me, his logic, at times, backed me into a corner, and the examples of the theory, in my view, were not the best thought out. However, it's a thought provoking read, which is the point of the book. So worth a read if you don't have time to wade through the works referenced within.

These essays by Francis Bacon came across to me, more so, as preliminary sermons than essays. I have no issue with reading puritanical, fundamentalist doctrine but what I struggled with throughout these musings was the lack of any kind of wit or introspection that might allude to a paradox in the writer's ideas. I found the text more didactic than dry, but the range of topics were quite interesting, and so I approached each one with a fresh hope. If there was amusement to be found, for me, it was the two essays on buildings and gardens. With these, Francis begins objectively, only to follow on with what he himself would need in a garden or building, and then moves onto what you should do with his garden or building as if instructing a client, and all this seemed as if he was suddenly swept away by personal whim and fancy. His desire for a, wholly, clean garden also provided some amusement, but I feel there was no tongue to be found in his cheek while writing it. He's so adamant on this point that he makes clear gardens ought to be free of wildlife as much as possible, right down to the moss. His view of an aviary drives this point home when he states that it should contain as much foliage as possible to prevent the birds from leaving their droppings on the ground. To use a phrase from his essay on counsel, I found the whole body of work "grave & orderly". Some essays stood out such as innovations, friendship, revenge, anger, and fortune. The rest were written with such an austere temperament that I found myself mourning the loss of my literary appetite, and wanting watch a comedy on television just to lighten my mood.