Kirkus Reviews QR Code
NEW HOPES FOR A CHANGING WORLD by Bertrand Russell

NEW HOPES FOR A CHANGING WORLD

By

Pub Date: Jan. 14th, 1951
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

A vigorous, insistent and thriftily lucid diagnosis of the diseased members of the body of modern thought and practice in which the extraordinary mathematician, logician and philosopher restates his prescriptions for a better world. Those who have followed the development of Lord Russell's social philosophy in recent years will recognize some old rallying points, for example, population control and conservationism, but the sections having to do with social man and individual man, although reflecting a long life-time of incisive and constructive thought, have a fresh immediacy of application and urgency of expression, suggesting that the aging philosopher shall rest ""content in the thought that what was possible has been done"". In the process of discussing the possibilities of world unification technically, politically and economically, Lord Russell also investigates the hope that man may learn to resolve his social and inner conflicts by rational, creative living and by liberating himself from the bondage of destructive emotions lingering on from a brutal and half-civilized past. War must be controlled by a strong, armed world government; economic thought must be re-organized to place emphasis on co-operation rather than the false god of competition. Education should have an international flavor and should pave the way toward a closer understanding between peoples. Our present tangle of Gears should be prevented by orienting the child to a way of life in which there are no series of ""do nots"" to ineuleate guilt leading to violence, insecurity and despair. A stimulating though hasty summary a heady Utopia strengthened with sinewy logic and phorisms.