Bertrand Russell's Rejection of Christianity
Why the Philosopher and Mathematician Rejected God in His Life
Sep 29, 2009
Over a long and important career, Bertrand Russell made a lot of ground-breaking and valuable contributions to both the study of mathematics and the development of contemporary formal logic. He also brought new insight and information to the idea of analytic philosophy, and is noted among the world's great philosophers.
Bertrand Russell's Contribution to Philosophy Through Mathematics
His discovery of "Russell's Paradox" was one of the greatest things that the field of mathematics had seen, but it wasn't his only contribution. He also created a defense of logicism that stated his view that mathematics could all be reduced to formal logic.
In addition, he created information about the "theory of types" and refined and popularized first-order predicate calculus. There are two people in history who are commonly credited with being the most important logicians of the twentieth century. Kurt Gödel is one, and Russell is the other.
The paradox that still carries Bertrand Russell's name was discovered in May of 1901, while Russell was working on his Principles of Mathematics book. The book was published in 1903. The paradox itself came about this way:
- There is (theoretically) mathematical a set of all the sets which are not members of themselves.
- If these kinds of sets actually exist, they would be members of themselves if--and only if--they were not members of themselves.
This paradox is very significant, since classical logic indicates that all sentences are inherently designed to be entailed by contradiction.
Many mathematicians were concerned by this discovery. It appeared that there wasn't any proof that anything could be trusted, since the logic that was underlying all of mathematics was contradictory to itself. Not only was a lot of work in mathematics prompted by this paradox, but set theory, logic, and philosophy were also affected.
More philosophers were prompted to start asking questions regarding the nature of the universe, humanity, and everything else that people had allegedly proven. If even mathematics — a provable and logical area of study, if there ever was one — could be shown to be contradictory and fallible, what else could still be misunderstood?
Bertrand Russell's Rejection of Christianity
While Bertrand Russell may have been central to a re-thinking of the field of mathematics based on his paradox, one of the traits many people found puzzling about him was that he was not a Christian, and classified himself as an agnostic despite his religious upbringing. Most philosophers seem to accept at least the possibility of some form of higher power, yet Russell refused to acknowledge that this could take place.
There are various theories that could indicate why Bertrand Russell rejected Christianity, but it is believed by many that the way he lived his life, coupled with his passion for mathematics and logic, had much to do with his lack of belief in a higher power. The way he addressed and examined philosophy could also have had much to do with Russell's opinions on Christianity and why he thought the possibility of the existence of God to be so small.
Another thought that Russell shared with the world was that there were so many religions, and they all conflicted with one another. At most, one of them could be correct. He also indicated that the world was so evil and morally bankrupt that it couldn't have done honor to any type of god who would have created it. These were believed to be the main reasons why Christianity was rejected by Russell, yet his daughter believed him to be a profoundly religious man on his own terms.
Resources on Bertrand Russell and Christianity:
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