The Analysis of Mind

Bertrand Russell

Jan 2004 · Cosimo, Inc.

About this ebook

"This book has grown out of an attempt to harmonize two different tendencies, one in psychology, the other in physics, with both of which I find myself in sympathy, although at first sight they might seem inconsistent," Bertrand Russell wrote at the beginning of "The Analysis of Mind," a collection of lectures delivered in London and Peking. He then unfolds for his readers his ideas on consciousness, instinct and habit, desire and feeling, introspection, perception, sensations and images, memory, words and meaning, belief, and characteristics of mental phenomenon. Throughout, Russell explores the mystery of the mind, and proposes that there exists a fundamental material of which both mind and matter exist. "The stuff of which the world of our experience is composed is, in my belief, neither mind nor matter, but something more primitive than either," he wrote. "Both mind and matter seem to be composite, and the stuff of which they are compounded lies in a sense between the two, in a sense above them both, like a common ancestor." "Brilliant. . . one of the most interesting and important books that Mr. Russell has yet given us." --Nation "Here are the old clarity and the old charm; the restrained, illuminating with .a most brilliant essay in psychology." --New Statesman "Most interesting.a most valuable contribution to its subject." --Manchester Guardian "This interesting and fascinating book.is a perfect model of what such books should be.the style is so clear and technicalities so carefully explained that the reading of the book is an intellectual pleasure rather than a mental effort." --Church Times

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic. He was best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Together with G.E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one of the main founders of modern analytic philosophy. Together with Kurt Gödel, he is regularly credited with being one of the most important logicians of the twentieth century. Over the course of a long career, Russell also made contributions to a broad range of subjects, including the history of ideas, ethics, political and educational theory, and religious studies. General readers have benefited from his many popular writings on a wide variety of topics. After a life marked by controversy--including dismissals from both Trinity College, Cambridge, and City College, New York--Russell was awarded the Order of Merit in 1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Noted also for his many spirited anti-nuclear protests and for his campaign against western involvement in the Vietnam War, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97.