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Review Papers | Philosophy | India | Volume 13 Issue 1, January 2024 | Popularity: 4.6 / 10

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Philosophy, An Essential Facet of Life, Indispensable to Realize Other Disciplines: An Incisive Review of Bertrand Russell's 'The Value of Philosophy'

Dr. P R Chandra Reddy

Abstract: Russell pronounces that philosophy is not any irrelevant trifling and he contrasts the utility of philosophy with that of the physical sciences which influence mankind, through inventions, while philosophy primarily affects the lives of those who study it. The principal value of philosophy is to be found in its adherents. It dispels practical prejudices. The philosophic attitude recognizes the food for the mind. The purpose of philosophy is to gain knowledge through criticism. Russell says that the uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real. The uncertainty in philosophy derives from the questions that it undertakes to answer. These questions address most profound human interests. In fact, Russell supposes that the value of philosophy appears in its very uncertainty. Philosophy allows people to see the most ordinary things in unfamiliar light and this can make them free from the tyranny of custom. Though philosophy is unable to tell people what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises with certainty, yet it is able to suggest many possibilities. These elevate human thoughts and free them from the self confinement. Thus, while diminishing one?s feeling of certainty, it greatly increases one?s knowledge. Philosophy lets in the outside world and enlarges human interest. Russell asserts everyone has to escape from his own private world because it spoils the aim of contemplation. Philosophy makes people question and the questions enrich intellectual imagination, diminish dogmatic assurance and unite mind with the universe.

Keywords: uncertainty, prejudice, fortuitous, ascertain, mythology, self-assertion, dogmatic, ideology, ascertainableness, unexpected possibilities

Edition: Volume 13 Issue 1, January 2024

Pages: 152 - 161

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.21275/SR231230122341

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