10 Commandments of Bertrand Russell

Many would rather die than think.
Often, by the way, it happens.
- Bertrand Russell

You agree that not every year you will see, as a mathematician receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Many scientists work at the intersection of different fields of knowledge, but the mathematics and literature, by definition, are not thought of as similar categories. This situation may seem unusual, and will remain so until such time as will not be said that we are talking about Bertrand Russell - British scientists, one of the most intellectually diverse and influential thinkers in modern history.

Today's material at EssayVikings' Hatena Blog - an attempt to realize only a fraction of the empirical heritage of this, without exaggeration, an outstanding person. But it is, we hope, will be useful to anyone who seeks to understand itself and wants to cultivate the ability to objectively assess the world around.

So, 10 Commandments

The Ten Commandments of Bertrand Russell, which I, as a teacher, I want to publish, may be summarized as follows:

1. In no way be absolutely sure.
2. Do not think that it is better to move forward, while hiding the evidence - they will become known.
3. Never attempt to hinder the process of thinking and you certainly will.
4. Faced with opposition opinion, even if it belongs to your husband or children, try to overcome it by argument and not the authorities.
5. Do not respect the authority of others, because there will always be the authorities who claim the opposite.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions that consider harmful, otherwise these opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in their views: any opinion, common today, was once eccentric.
8. Look for pleasure in intelligent disagreement, not passive consent. After all, if we estimate the true mind, the first will mean a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, because trying to hide it even more inconvenient.
10. Do not envy the happiness of those who live in the "Paradise of Fools", because only a fool thinks a happy life. "

For the first time an article containing the Decalogue c Commandments was published in 1951 in «The New York Times». It has no direct references to what is given in the end of the guidelines relate to the field of education. Bertrand Russell talks about the benefits of a liberal worldview. Therefore, colleagues from the "theory and practice" dubbed their ideological precepts of liberal translation. These principles give a number of requirements to the organization of the thinking process. This is equally useful in terms of training, and to resist manipulation, blind, dogmatic faith.