How To Avoid
Foolish Opinions
Author
Bertrand Russell
He is a Philosopher, Mathematician, Historian, Writer, Social
Critic and a political activist.
He has won Noble Prize for Literature.
This is a collection of work from "Unpopular Essays".
It is published in the year 1950.
In this essay the author gives advices.
Summary
"If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the
observation yourself".
The author asserts that there are simple rules to save
one, not from all the errors but from silly errors. He
cites the example of Aristotle who declared that
women had fewer teeth than men. Russell says that if
Aristotle had asked Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth
open until he finished counting, he would have saved
himself from making a very serious mistake. He did
not do so, because he thought he knew about it.
, According to Russell, this was the greatest mistake. He
himself thought that hedgehogs eats black beetles.
Russell had heard people saying so. But when a
person decides to write about Hedgehogs habits, he
or she has to experience them and make a
documentation.
The ancient and medieval authors had heard about
unicorns and salamanders, they wrote about them.
Russell says that one’s opinions have to be tested
through experience.
If a person says 2 × 2 = 5 or Iceland is located in
Equator then you should not get angry rather you
should feel pity for them.
He explains the difference between arithmetic and
theology. Arithmetic is about knowledge, but
Theology is only about opinions. Knowledge is the
result of observations but opinion is not so. So
whenever one gets angry about another person’s
opinion, the person should observe their ideas.
Russell talks about dogmatism and suggests ways to
get rid of them. They are:
1. Travel around the world and explore new things.
Here Russell sights his personal experiences of
travelling. When he was young he travelled to many
places especially France, Germany, Italy and U.S.
2. If one cannot afford travel, they can communicate
with people who have different opinions. This will
help one to think from the others’ perspective.
Foolish Opinions
Author
Bertrand Russell
He is a Philosopher, Mathematician, Historian, Writer, Social
Critic and a political activist.
He has won Noble Prize for Literature.
This is a collection of work from "Unpopular Essays".
It is published in the year 1950.
In this essay the author gives advices.
Summary
"If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the
observation yourself".
The author asserts that there are simple rules to save
one, not from all the errors but from silly errors. He
cites the example of Aristotle who declared that
women had fewer teeth than men. Russell says that if
Aristotle had asked Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth
open until he finished counting, he would have saved
himself from making a very serious mistake. He did
not do so, because he thought he knew about it.
, According to Russell, this was the greatest mistake. He
himself thought that hedgehogs eats black beetles.
Russell had heard people saying so. But when a
person decides to write about Hedgehogs habits, he
or she has to experience them and make a
documentation.
The ancient and medieval authors had heard about
unicorns and salamanders, they wrote about them.
Russell says that one’s opinions have to be tested
through experience.
If a person says 2 × 2 = 5 or Iceland is located in
Equator then you should not get angry rather you
should feel pity for them.
He explains the difference between arithmetic and
theology. Arithmetic is about knowledge, but
Theology is only about opinions. Knowledge is the
result of observations but opinion is not so. So
whenever one gets angry about another person’s
opinion, the person should observe their ideas.
Russell talks about dogmatism and suggests ways to
get rid of them. They are:
1. Travel around the world and explore new things.
Here Russell sights his personal experiences of
travelling. When he was young he travelled to many
places especially France, Germany, Italy and U.S.
2. If one cannot afford travel, they can communicate
with people who have different opinions. This will
help one to think from the others’ perspective.
