"In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell

[Nords]

I don't know how many of you follow Jacob Lund Fisker's blog, but he recently put up this compelling Bertrand Russell* essay on [-]early retirement[/-] idleness:
In Praise of Idleness By Bertrand Russell

It was written in 1932, so it's an interesting reflection between the Great Depression and the Great Recession...








* Yeah, yeah, I know, WTF is Bertrand Russell. Here you go:
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[FUEGO]

* Yeah, yeah, I know, WTF is Bertrand Russell. Here you go:

Ouch! He's one of my favorite philosophers. Excellent writer. Concise and to the point. He explains complicated philosophical notions in understandable terms and puts these concepts and notions in context.

He's a noted mathematician too.

One of my next books to read will be his "A History of Western Philosophy".

 

[Lsbcal]

I don't know how many of you follow Jacob Lund Fisker's blog, but he recently put up this compelling Bertrand Russell* essay on [-]early retirement[/-] idleness:
In Praise of Idleness By Bertrand Russell

It was written in 1932, so it's an interesting reflection between the Great Depression and the Great Recession...

Thanks for this link Nords. Interesting article and I notice he was 60 when he wrote it and lived on to age 98!

I've been curious about Russell since my early college days. Still have a copy of A History of Western Philosophy which I slogged through one summer. Even back then I was trying to find some solid foundation to a philosophy of life. Nowadays I'm coming to the conclusion that change is the only constant. The parallels with geology are kind of nice. Even those granite rocks will eventually get recycled back to another rock form. But first they have to go back through the mud stage .

Then there is economic theory which appears to rest on a solid bed of hypocrisy. I'll get off my soap box now as I've already said way too much.

 

[Orchidflower]

Thanks for posting. I always find Russell fascinating.

 

[haha]

Very intelligent man. However, he shared the blindness of his class and generation in England, with their infatuation with the Soviets.

Russell and other leftists and pacifists were a large part of the explanation for England's misunderstanding of Germany's remilitarization in the 30s.

Ha

 

[Lotus]

Thanks for the post, Nords. It made interesting reading and brought back some memories. My late dad, a college professor of Western Philosophy, was a fan (perhaps even a friend) of Bertrand Russell. He hung a portrait of Russell above the piano in our living room, and was ridiculously pleased when a housemaid thought that he was our granddad!

 

[Lazarus]

Thanks for the post, Nords. It made interesting reading and brought back some memories. My late dad, a college professor of Western Philosophy, was a fan (perhaps even a friend) of Bertrand Russell. He hung a portrait of Russell above the piano in our living room, and was ridiculously pleased when a housemaid thought that he was our granddad!

The help can be so amusing.

 

[walkinwood]

Thanks for the post. I read it early in my career, but had absolutely forgotten about its message.

I wonder if it was subconsciously pushing me to ER!

 

[Bikerdude]

The help can be so amusing.