Bertrand Russel: Face to Face. March 4th, 1959.

In 1959, as part of the BBC series “Face to Face”, the influential mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russel had an engaging conversation with John Freeman, touching on various aspects of his professional and personal life. Russel comes across as a particularly ‘like-able’ human being, with an abiding mistrust of human war making and hate mongering, and according to him “… love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world which is getting more closely and closely interconnected we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way and if we are to live together and not die together we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.” A timely message from back in time for these times of strife and hate.

Bertrand Russell - Face to Face Interview (BBC, 1959)

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Rory
Rory
11 years ago

Good to hear the genius speak. :)

Hattori
Hattori
11 years ago

A true champion of peace…amazing.

Olaf
Olaf
11 years ago

lol he should have been a great spokesperson for the tobacco/cigarette industries.

Rebeiro
Rebeiro
11 years ago

Very brief response to ‘sex’, although he is quite candid about his puritan upbringing.

Berger
Berger
11 years ago

Certainly one of the most important 20th Century philosophic voices. Personally I find the mix of mathematics and moral philosophy very intriguing.

Knudt
Knudt
11 years ago

i did not know Russel was such a man of peace…one generally hears about him being a ‘pacifist’ etc. To call him a ‘pacifist’ is such an insult!

mitali
mitali
11 years ago

luv his ‘propah’ accent..he was an aristocrat ;)

H Kristoff
H Kristoff
11 years ago

Almost all 20th c philosophers, had very puritan upbringings…point to consider.

Petra
Petra
11 years ago

I aways thought Russel was a grouchy, humorless serious man. How wrong I was.

Trevor B
Trevor B
11 years ago

The History of Western Philosophy. Nuff Said.

daniel
daniel
11 years ago

hehe…i likes his story of surviving a plane crash…and yeah, i m a smoker.

Tsui
Tsui
11 years ago

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.