The Problems of Philosophy
Clear, concise introduction to Russell’s epistemology and analytic method.
Author guide
Bertrand Russell Books in Order
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social critic, and public intellectual. A founder of analytic philosophy and co-author of Principia Mathematica, he wrote influential works on logic, mathematics, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, education, politics, war, religion, and nuclear disarmament. He received the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature.
philosophylogicmathematicssocial criticismpolitical writingpacifismreligioneducationhistorymemoirfictionessays
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
A History of Western Philosophy
Accessible survey of the philosophical tradition and Russell’s interpretive voice.
Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays
Representative collection of Russell’s writing on religion, ethics, and public life.
The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
Personal account of Russell’s intellectual and political development.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Nonfiction (2)
- My Philosophical Development
memoir · 1959
Russell gives an account of his philosophical development. He describes his Hegelian period and includes hitherto unpublished notes for a Hegelian philosophy of science. He deals next with the two-fold revolution involved with his…
- The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
memoir · 1967
Short fiction (3)
- Satan in the Suburbs and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 1953
- Nightmares of Eminent Persons, and Other Stories
short_story_collection · 1954
- The Collected Stories of Bertrand Russell
short_story_collection · 1972
Essays and speeches (72)
- Philosophical Essays
essay_collection · 1910
- Justice in War-Time
essay_collection · 1915
- Political Ideals
pamphlet · 1916
In dark days, men need a clear faith and a well-grounded hope; and as the outcome of these, the calm courage which takes no account of hardships by the way. The times through which we are passing have afforded to many of us a confirmation…
- Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays
essay_collection · 1918
CONTENTS: Preface - 1 Mysticism and Logic - 3 The Place of Science in a Liberal Education - 24 A Free Man's Worship - 33 The Study of Mathematics - 41 Mathematics and the Metaphysicians - 52 On Scientific Method in Philosophy - 68 The…
- Sceptical Essays
essay_collection · 1928
- In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays
essay_collection · 1935
- Let the People Think
essay_collection · 1941
- Unpopular Essays
essay_collection · 1950
A classic collection of Bertrand Russell's more controversial works, reaffirming his staunch liberal values, *Unpopular Essays* is one of Russell's most characteristic and self-revealing books. Written to "combat... the growth in…
- New Hopes for a Changing World
essay_collection · 1951
- Logic and Knowledge: Essays 1901–1950
essay_collection · 1956
- Portraits from Memory and Other Essays
essay_collection · 1956
'I have come to think that one of the main causes of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence.' - Bertrand Russell, Portraits from Memory Portraits from Memory is one…
- Understanding History and Other Essays
essay_collection · 1957
- Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays
essay_collection · 1957
- Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare
essay_collection · 1959
Available for the first time in many years, Commonsense and Nuclear Warfare presents Russell's keen insights into the threat of nuclear conflict, and his argument that the only way to end this threat is to end war itself. Written at the…
- Fact and Fiction
essay_collection · 1961
Reflects on the books and writings that influenced the author's life, including fiction, essays on politics and education, divertissements and parables. This book offers insight into the range of interests and depth of conviction of one…
- Has Man a Future?
essay_collection · 1961
- Unarmed Victory
essay_collection · 1963
- War Crimes in Vietnam
essay_collection · 1967
- Essays in Analysis
essay_collection · 1973
- Bertrand Russell’s America
essay_collection · 1973
- Mortals and Others: American Essays, 1931–1935
essay_collection · 1975
From 1931 to 1935 Bertrand Russell was one of the regular contributors to the literary pages of the New York American, together with other distinguished authors such as Aldous Huxley and Vita Sackville-West. Mortals and Others presents a…
- Anti-Suffragist Anxieties
pamphlet · 1910
- The Philosophy of Bergson
pamphlet · 1912
- Scientific Method in Philosophy
pamphlet · 1914
- War—The Offspring of Fear
pamphlet · 1914
- The Philosophy of Pacifism
pamphlet · 1915
- The Policy of the Entente, 1904–14
pamphlet · 1915
- An Open Letter to the President
pamphlet · 1916
- Why Not Peace Negotiations?
pamphlet · 1916
- What Are We Fighting For?
pamphlet · 1916
- Bertrand Russell and the War Office
pamphlet · 1916
- Rex v. Bertrand Russell
pamphlet · 1916
- Democracy and Direct Action
pamphlet · 1919
- Free Thought and Official Propaganda
pamphlet · 1922
- Why Thinking People Vote Labour
pamphlet · 1922
- How to Be Free and Happy
pamphlet · 1924
- Why I Am Not a Christian
pamphlet · 1927
'Why I am not a Christian' is considered one of the most blasphemous philosophical documents ever written, and at a time when we have faith schools and wars over religious beliefs, its message today couldn't be more relevant. If religion…
- Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?
pamphlet · 1929
- India: Know the Facts
pamphlet · 1932
- Determinism and Physics
pamphlet · 1936
- Education for Democracy
pamphlet · 1937
- How to Become a Philosopher
pamphlet · 1942
- An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish
pamphlet · 1943
- How to Read and Understand History
pamphlet · 1943
- The Value of Free Thought
pamphlet · 1944
- Physics and Experience
pamphlet · 1946
- Philosophy and Politics
pamphlet · 1947
- The Faith of a Rationalist
pamphlet · 1947
- Towards World Government
pamphlet · 1948
- How Near Is War?
pamphlet · 1952
- What Is Freedom?
pamphlet · 1952
- The Good Citizen’s Alphabet
pamphlet · 1953
- What Is Democracy?
pamphlet · 1953
- History as an Art
pamphlet · 1954
- John Stuart Mill
pamphlet · 1955
- Man’s Peril from the Hydrogen Bomb
pamphlet · 1955
- If Man Is to Survive
pamphlet · 1958
- Act or Perish
pamphlet · 1960
- The Case for Neutralism
pamphlet · 1960
- Win We Must: Collective Action Against Collective Suicide!
pamphlet · 1961
- On Civil Disobedience
pamphlet · 1961
- You Are To Die
pamphlet · 1962
- A New Approach to Peace
pamphlet · 1964
- 16 Questions on the Assassination
pamphlet · 1964
- Bertrand Russell on Iran
pamphlet · 1964
- Bertrand Russell on India–Pakistan Conflict
pamphlet · 1965
- Danger in South-East Asia
pamphlet · 1965
- The Labour Party’s Foreign Policy [1]
pamphlet · 1965
- The Labour Party’s Foreign Policy [2]
pamphlet · 1965
- Should India Make an Atomic Bomb?
pamphlet · 1965
- The Threat to World Peace Is American Imperialism
pamphlet · 1965
Collaborations (3)
- Principia Mathematica
coauthored_book · 1910
- The Prospects of Industrial Civilization
coauthored_book · 1923
First published in 1923, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization is considered the most ambitious of Bertrand Russell's works on modern society. It offers a rare glimpse into often-ignored subtleties of his political thought and in it he…
- Statement by Nine Top Scientists for Outlawing War: The Russell–Einstein Manifesto
coauthored_statement · 1955
Other (46)
- An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry
book · 1897
This text provides both an insight into the foundations of Russell's philosophical thinking and an introduction to the philosophy of mathematics and logic. It explores the various concepts of geometry and their philosophical implications,…
- The Principles of Mathematics
book · 1903
- The Problems of Philosophy
book · 1912
Bertrand Russell was one of the greatest logicians since Aristotle, and one of the most important philosophers of the past two hundred years. The Problems of Philosophy, one of the most popular works in Russell's prolific collection of…
- Principles of Social Reconstruction
book · 1916
Originally entitled Why Men Fight, this work is generally seen as the fullest expression of Russell's political philosophy. The ideas laid out here greatly contributed to Russell's fame as a social critic and anti-war activist.
- Political Ideals
book · 1917
- Proposed Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism and Syndicalism
book · 1918
THE attempt to conceive imaginatively a better ordering of human society than the destructive and cruel chaos in which mankind has hitherto existed is by no means modern: it is at least as old as Plato, whose ``Republic'' set the model…
- Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
book · 1919
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc…
- The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
book · 1920
The Russian Revolution is one of the great heroic events of the world's history. It is natural to compare it to the French Revolution, but it is in fact something of even more importance. It does more to change daily life and the…
- The Analysis of Mind
book · 1921
- The Problem of China
book · 1922
Written at a time when China was largely regarded by the West as backward, The Problem of China sees Russell rise above the prejudices of his era and assess China's past, present and future. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new…
- The ABC of Atoms
book · 1923
- A Free Man's Worship
chapbook · 1923
- Icarus, or the Future of Science
book · 1924
- The ABC of Relativity
book · 1925
- What I Believe
book · 1925
- On Education, Especially in Early Childhood
book · 1926
- The Analysis of Matter
book · 1927
- An Outline of Philosophy
book · 1927
In this controversial book first published in 1927, Bertrand Russell argues that humanity demands consideration solely as the instrument by which we acquire knowledge of the universe. From our inner-world to the outer-world, from our…
- Marriage and Morals
book · 1929
Marriage & Morals is the great book by great Philosopher of 20th c Bertrand Russell
- Freedom and Organization: 1814–1914
book · 1934
- Religion and Science
book · 1935
- Which Way to Peace?
book · 1936
- Power: A New Social Analysis
book · 1938
- An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth
book · 1940
- A History of Western Philosophy
book · 1945
NOBEL LETTERATURA 1950 Vero e proprio capolavoro di sintesi e di chiarezza espositiva, la Storia della filosofia occidentale si offre come un quadro completo dello sviluppo del pensiero filosofico, all’interno del quale i singoli…
- Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits
book · 1948
Human Knowledge is Bertrand Russell's examination of the relation between individual experience and the general body of scientific knowledge. It presents an examination of the problems of an empiricist epistemology. --From publisher's…
- Authority and the Individual
book · 1949
From Ancient Greek philosophy to the French Revolution to the modern welfare state, in Authority & the Individual Bertrand Russell tackles the perennial questions about the balance between authority & human freedom. With characteristic…
- The Impact of Science on Society
book · 1951
- Human Society in Ethics and Politics
book · 1954
- Wisdom of the West
book · 1959
- To the Electors of the Wimbledon Division of Surrey
leaflet · 1907
- To the Electors of Chelsea
leaflet · 1922
- Beacon Hill School
leaflet · 1927
- A Letter from Bertrand Russell
letter · 1961
- Bertrand Russell’s May Day Appeal to All Workers
statement · 1962
Frequently asked questions about Bertrand Russell
Who was Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, essayist, and social critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy.
Sources: plato.stanford.edu (opens in a new tab)nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)
What was Bertrand Russell famous for?
He was best known for groundbreaking work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy, including logicism, Russell’s paradox, and the theory of types. He also helped establish modern logical methods in philosophy.
Sources: plato.stanford.edu (opens in a new tab)phil.cam.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)
What causes did Bertrand Russell champion?
Russell campaigned for peace, nuclear disarmament, social reform, and freedom of thought. He opposed the First World War, became a leading figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and later criticized the Vietnam War.
Sources: russell.humanities.mcmaster.ca (opens in a new tab)library.mcmaster.ca (opens in a new tab)
Who influenced Bertrand Russell?
Russell’s thinking was shaped by Gottlob Frege’s work in logic, his Cambridge colleague G. E. Moore, and his collaboration with A. N. Whitehead. Later exchanges with Ludwig Wittgenstein and Frank Ramsey also influenced his development in logic and epistemology.
Sources: plato.stanford.edu (opens in a new tab)phil.cam.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)
What awards did Bertrand Russell receive, and what is his legacy?
Russell received the Order of Merit in 1949 and the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature for writings that championed humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought. His lasting legacy includes major contributions to logic and analytic philosophy, as well as influential public advocacy for peace and disarmament.
Sources: nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)plato.stanford.edu (opens in a new tab)russell.humanities.mcmaster.ca (opens in a new tab)