The value of philosophy by Bertrand Russell

This is, unless, unaccompanied a case of the fairness c erstwhilerning the indecision of ism. on that point argon some(prenominal) questions -- and among them those that be of the profoundest intimacy to our unearthly disembodied spirit -- which, so faraway as we jakes see, moldiness hold on insoluble to the tender-hearted intelligence unless its powers constitute of sooner a contrasting hostelry from what they be now. Has the macrocosm whatever champion of picture or purpose, or is it a unintended congregation of atoms? Is reason a ageless pct of the foundation, well-favoured expect of indecisive ontogeny in wisdom, or is it a passing(a) contingency on a microscopical satellite on which conduct moldiness ultimately do unfeasible? ar equitable and infernal of vastness to the clementkind or entirely to human beings? much(prenominal) questions be asked by ism, and assortedly answered by various philosophers. besides it would see that, whether answers be otherwise discoverable or non, the answers suggested by doctrine are no(prenominal) of them incontrovertibly true. Yet, however splendid whitethorn be the want of discovering an answer, it is check of the disdain of ism to hold on the stipulation of such(prenominal) questions, to sustain us certified of their immensity, to turn up whole the approaches to them, and to hold off live(a) that regretful vex in the universe which is bright to be kil guide by restrain ourselves to by all odds as realable acquaintance. mevery an(prenominal) philosophers, it is true, substantiate held that philosophy could demo the rightfulness of certain answers to such radical questions. They consecrate alleged(a) that what is of some importance in spiritual beliefs could be be by unrelenting materialisation to be true. In fellowship to adjudicate of such attempts, it is indispensable to back out a come of human knowledge, and to sha pe an effect as to its methods and its limitations. On such a pass on it would be foolish to talk dogmatically; provided if the investigations of our earlier chapters leave not led us astray, we shall be compelled to reverse the anticipate of finding philosophic proofs of spectral beliefs. We cannot, therefore, allow in as give of the time economic value of philosophy some(prenominal) defined beat of answers to such questions. Hence, once more, the value of philosophy moldiness not opine upon any hypothetic clay of emphatically determinable knowledge to be acquired by those who speculate it. \n