Bertrand Russell

by Bertrand Russell

1. The following quotes are from the book "The Impact of Science on Society" (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1951 and 1953):

"I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others, which, one must suppose, opponents of birth control would prefer. War, as I remarked a moment ago, has hitherto been disappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full. There would be nothing in this to offend the consciences of the devout or to restrain the ambitions of nationalists. The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of that? Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people’s." (p. 26)

"...the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology.... The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician’s paradise.” (p. 30)

"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." (Page 50)

"...most civilized and semi-civilized countries known to history and had a large class of slaves or serfs completely subordinate to their owners. There is nothing in human nature that makes the persistence of such a system impossible. And the whole development of scientific technique has made it easier than it used to be to maintain a despotic rule of a minority. When the government controls the distribution of food, its power is absolute so long as they can count on the police and the armed forces. And their loyalty can be secured by giving them some of the privileges of the governing class. I do not see how any internal movement of revolt can ever bring freedom to the oppressed in a modern scientific dictatorship." (Page 54)

"There are three ways of securing a society that shall be stable as regards population. The first is that of birth control, the second that of infanticide or really destructive wars, and the third that of general misery except for a powerful minority." (pps. 103-104)

"My conclusion is that a scientific society can be stable given certain conditions.

The first of these is a single government of the whole world, possessing a monopoly of armed force and therefore able to enforce peace.

The second condition is a general diffusion of prosperity, so that there is no occasion for envy of one part of the world by another.

The third condition (which supposes the second fulfilled) is a low birth rate everywhere, so that the population of the world becomes stationary, or nearly so.

The fourth condition is the provision for individual initiative both in work and in play, and the greatest diffusion of power compatible with maintaining the necessary political and economic framework.

The world is a long way from realizing these conditions, and therefore we must expect vast upheavals and appalling suffering before stability is attained. But, while upheavals and suffering have hitherto been the lot of man, we can now see, however dimly and uncertainly, a possible future culmination in which poverty and war will have been overcome, and fear, where it survives, will have become pathological. The road, I fear, is long, but that is no reason for losing sight of the ultimate hope." (Page 113-114)

Bertrand Russell would later write that a "Black Death" or bacteriological warfare might be needed to cull the population.[28] Wells had already written that 'they would have a cause that "would make killing worth the while." (Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1953, p. 103.)

2. Biography at http://www.classicreader.com/author/205/about/

British philosopher, mathematician and social critic, one of the most widely read philosophers of this century. Bertrand Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.... Bertrand Russel was born in Trelleck, Gwent, as the second son of Viscount Amberley.... He was brought up by his grandfather, Lord John Russell, who had been prime minister twice....

Russell's concise and original introductory book, The Problems of Philosophy, appeared in 1912. He continued with works on epistemology, Mysticism and Logic (1918) and Analysis and Mind (1921)....

In 1907 Russell stood unsuccessfully for parliament as a candidate for the Women's Suffragate Society, and next year he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. ... His marriage ended when he began a lengthy affair with the literary hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell.... Other liaisons followed, among others with T.S. Eliot's wife Vivien Haigh-Wood. Later Russell wrote about his sexual morality and agnosticism in Marriage and Morals (1929). Russell stated that human beings are not naturally monogamous, outraging many with his views. In 1927 Russell wrote in Why I Am Not a Christian that all organized religions are the residue of the barbaric past, dwindled to hypocritical superstitions that have no basis in reality....

Russell visited Russia in 1920 with a Labour Party delegation and met Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, but returned deeply disillusioned...

"'Bertie is a fervid egoist," Virginia Wollf wrote in her diary about his friend, but Russell saw himself as "a nonsupernatural Faust."... In On Education (1926) Russell called for an education that would liberate the child from unthinking obedience to parental and religious authority....

In 1938 he moved to the United States, returning to academic philosophical work. He was a visiting professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and later at City College, New York, where he was debarred debarred from teaching because of libertarian opinions about sexual morals, education, and war. ... In 1944 Russell returned to Cambridge as a Fellow of his old college, Trinity."

3. More quotes by Russell from this page: http://www.whale.to/b/russell_h.html

"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, and injunctions will combine, from a 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

"Education in a scientific society may, I think, be best conceived after the analogy of the education provided by the Jesuits. The Jesuits provided one sort of education for the boys who were to become ordinary men of the world, and another for those who were to become members of the Society of Jesus. In like manner, the scientific rulers will provide one kind of education for ordinary men and women, and another for those who are to become holders of scientific power. Ordinary men and women will be expected to be docile, industrious, punctual, thoughtless, and contented. Of these qualities probably contentment will be considered the most important. In order to produce it, all the researches of psycho-analysis, behaviourism, and biochemistry will be brought into play." -----Read the book online here...[part 3, XIV, Education in a Scientific Society p.251]

"Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished ... The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen." -----Bertrand Russell quoting Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the head of philosophy & psychology who influenced Hegel and others – Prussian University in Berlin, 1810

4. From this page: http://lege.net/blog.lege.net/content/Education_should_aim_at_destroying_free_will.html

"Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished ... The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen." -----Bertrand Russell quoting Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the head of philosophy & psychology who influenced Hegel and others – Prussian University in Berlin, 1810