Russel, Filozofia współczesna, Russel

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THE ANALYSIS OF MIND
by
BERTRAND RUSSELL
1921
MUIRHEAD LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY
An admirable statement of the aims of the Library of Philosophy
was provided by the first editor, the late Professor J. H.
Muirhead, in his description of the original programme printed in
Erdmann's History of Philosophy under the date 1890. This was
slightly modified in subsequent volumes to take the form of the
following statement:
"The Muirhead Library of Philosophy was designed as a
contribution to the History of Modern Philosophy under the heads:
first of Different Schools of Thought--Sensationalist, Realist,
Idealist, Intuitivist; secondly of different
Subjects--Psychology, Ethics, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy,
Theology. While much had been done in England in tracing the
course of evolution in nature, history, economics, morals and
religion, little had been done in tracing the development of
thought on these subjects. Yet 'the evolution of opinion is part
of the whole evolution'.
"By the co-operation of different writers in carrying out this
plan it was hoped that a thoroughness and completeness of
treatment, otherwise unattainable, might be secured. It was
believed also that from writers mainly British and American
fuller consideration of English Philosophy than it had hitherto
received might be looked for. In the earlier series of books
containing, among others, Bosanquet's "History of Aesthetic,"
Pfleiderer's "Rational Theology since Kant," Albee's "History of
English Utilitarianism," Bonar's "Philosophy and Political
Economy," Brett's "History of Psychology," Ritchie's "Natural
Rights," these objects were to a large extent effected.
"In the meantime original work of a high order was being produced
both in England and America by such writers as Bradley, Stout,
Bertrand Russell, Baldwin, Urban, Montague, and others, and a new
interest in foreign works, German, French and Italian, which had
either become classical or were attracting public attention, had
developed. The scope of the Library thus became extended into
something more international, and it is entering on the fifth
decade of its existence in the hope that it may contribute to
that mutual understanding between countries which is so pressing
a need of the present time."
The need which Professor Muirhead stressed is no less pressing
to-day, and few will deny that philosophy has much to do with
enabling us to meet it, although no one, least of all Muirhead
himself, would regard that as the sole, or even the main, object
of philosophy. As Professor Muirhead continues to lend the
distinction of his name to the Library of Philosophy it seemed
not inappropriate to allow him to recall us to these aims in his
own words. The emphasis on the history of thought also seemed to
me very timely; and the number of important works promised for
the Library in the very near future augur well for the continued
fulfilment, in this and other ways, of the expectations of the
original editor.
H. D. Lewis
PREFACE
This book has grown out of an attempt to harmonize two different
tendencies, one in psychology, the other in physics, with both of
which I find myself in sympathy, although at first sight they
might seem inconsistent. On the one hand, many psychologists,
especially those of the behaviourist school, tend to adopt what
is essentially a materialistic position, as a matter of method if
not of metaphysics. They make psychology increasingly dependent
on physiology and external observation, and tend to think of
matter as something much more solid and indubitable than mind.
Meanwhile the physicists, especially Einstein and other exponents
of the theory of relativity, have been making "matter" less and
less material. Their world consists of "events," from which
"matter" is derived by a logical construction. Whoever reads, for
example, Professor Eddington's "Space, Time and Gravitation"
(Cambridge University Press, 1920), will see that an
old-fashioned materialism can receive no support from modern
physics. I think that what has permanent value in the outlook of
the behaviourists is the feeling that physics is the most
fundamental science at present in existence. But this position
cannot be called materialistic, if, as seems to be the case,
physics does not assume the existence of matter.
The view that seems to me to reconcile the materialistic tendency
of psychology with the anti-materialistic tendency of physics is
the view of William James and the American new realists,
according to which the "stuff" of the world is neither mental nor
material, but a "neutral stuff," out of which both are
constructed. I have endeavoured in this work to develop this view
in some detail as regards the phenomena with which psychology is
concerned.
My thanks are due to Professor John B. Watson and to Dr. T. P.
Nunn for reading my MSS. at an early stage and helping me with
many valuable suggestions; also to Mr. A. Wohlgemuth for much
very useful information as regards important literature. I have
also to acknowledge the help of the editor of this Library of
Philosophy, Professor Muirhead, for several suggestions by which
I have profited.
The work has been given in the form of lectures both in London
and Peking, and one lecture, that on Desire, has been published
in the Athenaeum.
There are a few allusions to China in this book, all of which
were written before I had been in China, and are not intended to
be taken by the reader as geographically accurate. I have used
"China" merely as a synonym for "a distant country," when I
wanted illustrations of unfamiliar things.
Peking, January 1921.
CONTENTS
I. Recent Criticisms of "Consciousness" II. Instinct and Habit
III. Desire and Feeling IV. Influence of Past History on Present
Occurrences in Living Organisms V. Psychological and
Physical Causal Laws VI. Introspection VII. The Definition of
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Russel, Filozofia współczesna, Russel

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