Bertrand Russell had a long, active, and interesting life. His parents died while he was still a child, and he was raised by his grandfather, Lord John Russell. Russell's first important philosophical works were in the philosophy of logic and mathematics. The groundbreaking The Principles of Mathematics was published in 1903. He and the mathematician Alfred
North Whitehead (1861-1947) collaborated on the three-volume work, Principia Mathematica (1910-1913). Their project was to prove that mathematics can be reduced to pure logic, thereby obviating the need for Platonic mathematical objects. Starting with logically primitive concepts stated as axioms, they try to derive rigorously the whole of mathematics. As with Frege, each step in the derivation would be proved logically, with no vague appeal to intuition. Indeed, it is possible to view the entire three volumes as an attempt to write a program-a set of algorithmic procedures-for deductive mathematics.
After the publication of Principia Mathematica, Russell's philosophical interests broadened and became less technical. Furthermore, his views on many central philosophical issues changed during his long academic life.
He was a devout atheist and a lifelong opponent of religion. He was also an adamant critic of traditional morality and education, and an outspoken pacifist, which got him fired from his teaching post in England during World War I. He was jailed many times in his life. At the age of 89, he was arrested for protesting against nuclear arms. In 1940, he was prevented from accepting a teaching position at the College of the City of New York because of his liberal views on sex. A prolific writer and a household figure, Russell published over 70 books and hundreds of articles, as well as essays on virtually every topic. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1949, and in 1950, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
