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Birth
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Professional Career
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On Denoting
Russel publishes one of his earliest works on the epistemological union of logic and language. While not a commentary on the philosophy of science itself, the essay is the first of the body of literature that makes up Russell's "Theory of Descriptions," which will prove instrumental in the second half of his life as his work moves to how science must accurately use language to describe natural phenomena. [1], [2]. -
The Problems of Philosophy
Russell publishes his seminal work, "The Problems of Philosophy." The treatise is revelatory in attempting to delineate the physical object from the things that describe it-"sense data." Additionally, Russell's work applies formal logic to reorder the philosophy of science into a system that applies inductive principals, reconciles the contradictions of perspective, and recognizes the limitations of perceptions to inside observers.
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Scientific Method in Philosophy
In this work, Russel further develops his contribution to the philosophy of science, alluding to the paradigm shifts of Copernicus as instrumental to the development of scientific discovery, but cautioning that science needed to adhere to the idea of taking no presuppositions outside of the most absolute mathematical logics. Russell elaborated on this as that scientific explanations are inherently generalizations, with even its most precise calculations remaining approximations. [4] -
Nobel Prize in Literature
"in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought" -
Russell's Teapot
Bertrand Russel introduces the precept of al teapot that orbits between Earth and Mars, and whose existence is presumed true by the impossibility of disproval. While fundamentally written as a philosophical rejection of religion, the conjecture demonstrates the necessity of falsifiability of scientific claims, and severely curtails the ubiquity and subsequent danger of Occam's Razor. Russel's Teapot will be later be revised and restated in Carl Sagan's "Dragon in My Garage" [5], [6] -
Death