Russell

Abstract

Bertrand Russell always claimed that he took part in politics not as a philosopher, but as an outraged citizen and a suffering member of the human race. This essay takes Russell at his own word and explores his untheoretical radicalism. The essay thus treats him as a latter-day Thomas Paine and engages with his views on power, property, and warfare. The implausibility of Russell's reliance on moral outrage as the fuel for radical politics is examined in a short coda on the contrast between Russell and Dewey as representatives of individualist and communitarian radicalism.