The Problems of Philosophy

I think this book should have actually been called The Problems with my Eyesight. Such was the diminutive nature of the font size, I spent ages merely squinting painfully at the page. It's a pity because The Problems of Philosophy is a valuable read. Bertrand Russell's writing varies between accessible essays, such as Why I am not a Christian, to worthy but fundamentally unreadable works such as Principia Mathematica. Fortunately, Problems falls into the former category. In fact Russell referred to it as his "Shilling Shocker" which, I assume, is a somewhat more upmarket version of the "Penny Dreadful".

The "problems" addressed in the book are really the fundamentals of philosophy - what is knowledge and how can we proclaim to know the things we say we know with any certainty. Some of the chapters are highly thought provoking as they question how we can rely on our senses or how we determine the fundamental nature of matter and the universe. He also deals convincingly with idealism (the concept that only thoughts really exist) and the more extreme forms of scepticism.

Although accessible, I think the style of writing can be rather repetitive which does make it difficult to comprehend. Writing for a more general audience is difficult - particularly when the subject matter is rather specialist - but it must be remembered that this book was written in 1912 and, at the time, using simple discourse to discuss philosophy would be regarded as radical in itself. I have certainly read more recent volumes which are a good deal more tiresome and yet fail to cover the depth of detail dealt with here. In fact, the best way to approach it is to imagine it is being read by Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss. Actually, the Yaffle character was based on Bertrand Russell so it's quite fitting.



Overall, a worthwhile read. I just need to see my optician again.