THE WIT AND WISDOM OF BERTRAND RUSSELL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 789, 3 September 1954, Page 7

THE WIT AND WISDOM OF BERTRAND RUSSELL

HAT is the effectiveness of X bags of democratic grain against Y stages of starvation? What do they know about securing world peace who do not know what makes a South Korean tick? These, and similar awkward questions concerning human nature and’ politics were discussed both wisely and wittily by the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell, in his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech of 1950. Lord Russell’s talk, a recording of which is to be broadcast shortly, must surely rank as one of the best afterdinner speeches ever delivered. In cool, ) ‘prose he discusses an amazing variety of topics, including acquisitiveness, love of power, Rockefeller, politicians, film stars, liquor, gambling, new outlets for . physical energy, mob violence, primitive impulses, rabbits, preventive war, Communists, the restriction of liberty, sympathy, idealism and disguised hatred, ‘and intelligence as a weapon. The result delighted not only the august audience at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm, but also publications as diverse as the New York Times ("as witty as it is penetrating") and Vogue ("learned, and shot through with laughs"). Bertrand Russell is the latest example in a long tradition of British philosophy going back through his godfather, John Stuart Mill, to Hume and Berkeley, Hobbes and Bacon. But it was to. Bertrand Russell, humanist,

that the prize was given and the terms of the award made it quite clear that it was an accolade in letters. Irving Edman in the Saturday Review of Literature said: "He has the gift or the achievement of a style unfailingly lucid so that even when one disagrees with him, one knows exactly what it is with which one is disagreeing. His ideas are sO perspicuously put that even at his most profound and challenging they come with the enchantment and distinction of first-rate English prose." For all Russell’s keen delight in revealing our most cherished prejudices as straw-stuffed, childish things which we should long ago have put away, he is still a steadfast and consistent defender of freedom. He is an analyst of it and, sometimes, a celebrator. If Bertrand Russell appears to be giving no more than two cheers for mankind's intelligence as seen in action today, he can still look at it with delightful humour: Talking, for instance, about power and glory, he says: "Love of power is akin to vanity. It is easy to have glory without power, as do film stars in the United States. However, they can quickly be stripped of their glory by the Committee for Un-Ameri-can Activities- which has no _ glory whatever." And again: "Petty power. is more apt to inflict pain than permit pleasure, as anyone ,who has ever asked for leave from the office or a building permit from a_ local authority will know." Excitement, Russell considers, is a natural corollary of man’s .infinite de-

sires, which would make him restless in Paradise. "Savages," Russell says, "received with indifference the benefits of pumpkin pie and the light of God, but joyfully welcomed _intoxicating liquor, which gave them the illusion that it is better to be alive than dead." The search for excitement may take legitimate forms in baseball games and General Elections, but when a_ populace applauds a war as it does a football match then these emotions become dangerous. "After all,"\ he says, "wars never start from dancehalls. The root cause of unhealthy aggressiveness is our make-up, which is geared to the period in history when man lived by hunting. Wearied by the chase he was quiet

and content. When ag-

riculture became known the wives did the work in the fields and men had time to reflect on the vanity of human life, so inventing myth and philosophy, the idea of hunting the wild boar of Valhalla." "Condemnation, the form of excitement appropriate to old age, and which is taken in ever-stronger doses" is not likely to be Bertrand Russell’s

affliction. He holds out an optimistic conclusion- that "the main thing needed .is intelligence, and intelligence can be fostered by known methods of education." Human Nature and Politics, Bertrand Russell’s Nobel Prize Speech, will be heard from all ZB stations in "Sunday Showcase" on Sunday, September 12, at 9.35 p.m.