1088 BERTRANDRUSSELL
The Analytic Heritage(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971) puts
Russell’s thought in the context of analytic philosophy, whereas J. Watling,
Bertrand Russell(New York: British Book Center, 1971); A.J. Ayer,Bertrand
Russell(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988); John Slater,Bertrand
Russell(Bristol, Gloucester: Thoemmes, 1994); and Ray Monk,Russell(London:
Routledge, 1999) provide general introductions. Studies on specific areas of
Russell’s thought include Lillian Woodworth Aiken, Bertrand Russell’s
Philosophy of Morals(New York: Humanities Press, 1963); Robert J. Clack,
Bertrand Russell’s Philosophy of Language(The Hague, The Netherlands:
Martinus Nijhoff, 1969); Elizabeth R. Eames,Bertrand Russell’s Theory of
Knowledge(New York: George Braziller, 1969); Michael K. Potter,Bertrand
Russell’s Ethics(London: Continuum, 2006); and Sajahan Miah,Russell’s Theory
of Perception(London: Continuum, 2006). For collections of essays, see Paul A.
Schilpp, ed.,The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell(New York: Tudor, 1951)—part
of the Library of Living Philosophers; Ralph Schoenman, ed.,Bertrand Russell:
Philosopher of the Century(Boston: Little, Brown, 1967); E.D. Klernke, ed.,
Essays on Bertrand Russell(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970);
D.F. Pears, ed.,Bertrand Russell(Garden City, NY: Anchor Doubleday, 1972);
A.D. Irvine and G.A. Wedeking, eds.,Russell and Analytic Philosophy(Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1993); Ray Monk and Anthony Palmer, eds.,Bertrand
Russell and the Origins of Analytical Philosophy(Bristol, UK: Thoemmes, 1996);
and Nicholas Griffin, ed.,The Cambridge Companion to Bertrand Russell
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY (selections)
CHAPTER1: APPEARANCE ANDREALITY
Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could
doubt it? This question, which at first sight might not seem difficult, is really one of
the most difficult that can be asked. When we have realized the obstacles in the way
of a straightforward and confident answer, we shall be well launched on the study of
philosophy—for philosophy is merely the attempt to answer such ultimate questions,
not carelessly and dogmatically, as we do in ordinary life and even in the sciences, but
critically, after exploring all that makes such questions puzzling, and after realizing
all the vagueness and confusion that underlie our ordinary ideas.
In daily life, we assume as certain many things which, on a closer scrutiny, are found
to be so full of apparent contradictions that only a great amount of thought enables us to
know what it is that we really may believe. In the search for certainty, it is natural to begin
with our present experiences, and in some sense, no doubt, knowledge is to be derived from
them. But any statement as to what it is that our immediate experiences make us know is
very likely to be wrong. It seems to me that I am now sitting in a chair, at a table of a certain
shape, on which I see sheets of paper with writing or print. By turning my head I see out of
THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY 2E Bertrand Russell (1971): Chapter 1 (pp. 1-6) and Chapter 15
(pp. 89-94). First published 1912. By permission of Oxford University Press.©