Abstract
THE title of Mr. Russell's book may raise expectations that it is an exposition or development of his philosophical theory. It cannot, however, take rank with his great works. It is a course of lectures, to all appearance a verbatim report, which has been subjected to the very minimum of revision. It is brimming over with casual witty remarks which pass well with an audience, but will not bear reflection. The lectures show Mr. Russell under the influence of two comparatively recent popular movements in philosophy and psychology, both of which seem to have attracted him powerfully, and neither to have convinced him completely, namely, William James's Neutral Monism and Prof. J. B. Watson's Behaviourism. One lecture deals at some length with the question, “Does Consciousness exist?” The answer reminds one of the famous pronouncement that Shakespeare's plays were not written by Shakespeare but by some one else of the same name. It is easy enough to argue that consciousness does not exist, but then there is something we are talking about when we affirm its non-existence, and it is difficult to find any other name for it. In regard to Behaviourism Mr. Russell thinks it a beautiful theory and an ideal method, but then—there are images, and the theory cannot account for them.
The Analysis of Mind.
Bertrand
Russell
By. (Library of Philosophy.) Pp. 310. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921.) 16s. net.
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The Analysis of Mind . Nature 109, 513 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109513c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109513c0