"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate."
A central tenet of what Peirce called "the gospel of greed."
Hey Winston,
ReplyDeleteThe more I learn about Russell, the more I like and respect him.
Here is another great Russell quote:
"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment."
Certainly there is a lot to like about Russell and I'm not here to deny it. The problem however - at least as far as academic philosophy is concerned - is that many philosophers have internalized Russell's own bifurcated personality into the collective conscience of the field as a whole. For upon Russell's own distinctions, the quote here mentioned was not given while he was wearing a philosopher's hat, and now to this day - when I want to talk about Marx, or write a thesis on John Dewey's economic thought - I'm still nagged with the sneaking suspicion that I'm 'not doing philosophy;' which is itself perhaps the least interesting pronouncement imaginable, but I digress...
ReplyDeleteLC,
ReplyDeleteThat's liberals at our best, indeed, I'd agree. Wonder how often we live up to our ideal?
A,
I think I know where you're coming from, man. Is that really Russell's fault? Or the positivists? I should know this...
Hey W,
ReplyDeleteHopefully, we live up to it all the time, although there are times when I need others to tell me when I'm being unreasonable and inflexible.
But it's definitely a trait to aspire to.