Man's Peril 1954-55

Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell #28

by Bertrand Russell, Andrew G. Bone

The Collected Papers 28 signals reinvigoration of Russell the public campaigner. The title of the volume is taken from one of his most famous and eloquent short essays and probably the best known of his many broadcasts for the BBC. Man's Peril, 1954-55 not only captures the essence of Russell's thinking about nuclear weapons and the Cold War in the mid-1950s, its extraordinary impact served to jolt him into political protest once again. The activism of which we glimpse the initial stirrings in this volume continued in various guises more or less without interruption until his death. In the writings assembled in this volume, however, he is looking towards the non-aligned states and world scientific opinion as possible brokers of détente . (The volume includes Russell's famous public statement, the declaration of scientists known as 'The Russell Einstein Manifesto'.) Although Russell was becoming increasingly immersed in work for peace, this was not to the exclusion of all other interests. For example, here we find also him reminiscing about his peace campaigning during the First World War, defending 'History as an Art', and attacking the obscurantism of obscenity legislation and the opponents of birth control.

792 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

Reviews

[A YOGAM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zentral für diesen Band ist das berühmte Russell-Einstein-Manifest, das eindringlich vor der Vernichtung der Menschheit durch Wasserstoffbomben warnt. Russell widmet sich hier nahezu ausschließlich der Aufgabe, die Weltöffentlichkeit über die physikalischen Realitäten eines Atomkriegs aufzuklären.
Er verbindet präzise logische Analyse mit einem dringenden humanistischen Appell an die führenden Politiker der Welt. Das Werk zeigt Bertrand Russell als engagierten Aktivisten, der seine philosophische Autorität für das Überleben der Menschheit einsetzt.