You've thoroughly convinced me that Russell should have stuck to logic and to showing the fallacies in the arguments for the existence of God (Why I Am Not a Christian).
In Russell's favor, let me note that many people in the West in the late 40's saw Stalin as the next Hitler, that is, someone bent on conquering Europe through military aggression. Just read Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins to see the debate. They did not realize that Stalin, while a genocidal butcher, was not particularly hawkish in his foreign policy and quite content to keep control over the nations of Eastern Europe occupied by the Soviets during World War 2.
In any case, Russell had little understanding of the dynamics of world power politics and like many intellectuals had the illusion that because he was a genius in some areas, for example, logic, he had some special insights into all possible human problems.
The major flaw (aside from how stupid it would be to detonate atomic weapons on a large scale environmentally) in Russell's argument is that those most responsible for destruction during the Bolshevik Revolution and in Stalin's regime and the first two World Wars scattered and hid themselves only to rise again continually. If it were as simple to contain the destruction as he seems to have outlined, would it have been better than dragging everything out and leaving us with, well...where we are now? Still facing potential atomic war, for one thing, but war in the middle east, trade hostilities, internal ideological strife in most nations. Sometimes it seems we're in an end game that has been coming for at least 150 years.
I give him credit for a good little Utilitarian heart, but it would never have worked. So it's more of a practical problem in my eyes. It would never have worked. The ideas I would have for what could work are kinda complex and as impenetrable sometimes as the Situationists.
Having thought about this particular subject more than most, perhaps, here is a poem I wrote on the subject.
If the world has ever been a more sensical place than this
You've thoroughly convinced me that Russell should have stuck to logic and to showing the fallacies in the arguments for the existence of God (Why I Am Not a Christian).
In Russell's favor, let me note that many people in the West in the late 40's saw Stalin as the next Hitler, that is, someone bent on conquering Europe through military aggression. Just read Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins to see the debate. They did not realize that Stalin, while a genocidal butcher, was not particularly hawkish in his foreign policy and quite content to keep control over the nations of Eastern Europe occupied by the Soviets during World War 2.
In any case, Russell had little understanding of the dynamics of world power politics and like many intellectuals had the illusion that because he was a genius in some areas, for example, logic, he had some special insights into all possible human problems.
The major flaw (aside from how stupid it would be to detonate atomic weapons on a large scale environmentally) in Russell's argument is that those most responsible for destruction during the Bolshevik Revolution and in Stalin's regime and the first two World Wars scattered and hid themselves only to rise again continually. If it were as simple to contain the destruction as he seems to have outlined, would it have been better than dragging everything out and leaving us with, well...where we are now? Still facing potential atomic war, for one thing, but war in the middle east, trade hostilities, internal ideological strife in most nations. Sometimes it seems we're in an end game that has been coming for at least 150 years.
I give him credit for a good little Utilitarian heart, but it would never have worked. So it's more of a practical problem in my eyes. It would never have worked. The ideas I would have for what could work are kinda complex and as impenetrable sometimes as the Situationists.
Having thought about this particular subject more than most, perhaps, here is a poem I wrote on the subject.
If the world has ever been a more sensical place than this
It surely must have ended by the time
of the first world war.
the twentieth century is a story
of such intense conflict and vehement blame
it seems as if god(s) themselves
must be rending their garments in grief
their hearts broken just like ours.
it is an immense work to heal the hearts of gods.