Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare

Front Cover
Psychology Press, 2001 - History - 77 pages

Available for the first time in many years, Commonsense and Nuclear Warfare presents Russell's keen insights into the threat of nuclear conflict, and his argument that the only way to end this threat is to end war itself.
Written at the height of the Cold War, this volume is crucial for understanding Russell's involvement in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and his passionate campaigning for peace. It remains an extremely important book in today's uncertain nuclear world, and is essential reading for all those interested in Russell and postwar history.
Includes a new introduction by Ken Coates, Chairman of The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Foreword
vii
Preface
xxix
Introduction
1
If Brinkmanship Continues
5
If Nuclear War Comes
11
Methods of Settling Disputes in the Nuclear Age
18
Programme of Steps towards Peace
24
New Outlook Needed before Negotiations
29
Disarmament
35
Steps towards Conciliation
42
Territorial Adjustments
47
Approach to an International Authority
53
Some Necessary Changes in Outlook
60
Unilateral Disarmament
71
Inconsistency?
75
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic. He was best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Together with G.E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one of the main founders of modern analytic philosophy. Together with Kurt Gödel, he is regularly credited with being one of the most important logicians of the twentieth century. Over the course of a long career, Russell also made contributions to a broad range of subjects, including the history of ideas, ethics, political and educational theory, and religious studies. General readers have benefited from his many popular writings on a wide variety of topics. After a life marked by controversy--including dismissals from both Trinity College, Cambridge, and City College, New York--Russell was awarded the Order of Merit in 1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Noted also for his many spirited anti-nuclear protests and for his campaign against western involvement in the Vietnam War, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97.