Last Night…

Last night I read John Gray’s preface to Bertrand Russel’s Sceptical Essays (read it for free here). It left me a little worried. Gray sets out a key contradiction in Russell’s life: “Bertrand Russell always thought of himself as a sceptic. At the same time he never doubted that human life could be transformed by the use of reason”.

Scepticism (amongst other things, a readiness to accept the uncertainty of one’s own beliefs) is not often associated with social reform, but reform was in Russell’s blood.

This contradiction is one I feel within myself. Despite my scepticism, I righteously post comments on Facebook defending the progressive policies of the Green Party. Despite my scepticism, I work for Winchester Hub (gratuitous plug, soz), an organisation which shouts to anyone that listens ‘Students have the power and potential to shape a better world!’.

Gray states that Sceptical Essays is an attempt to show that “scepticism and a belief in the possibility of progress need not be at odds”. Imagine my relief upon reading this, ‘Finally! My interminable contradicton can be resolved! (and someone else has done the hard work for me)’.

Unfortunately, this relief was short-lived. Gray concludes his preface with the following: “Sceptical Essays was written as a defence of rational doubt. Today we can read it as a confession of faith, the testament of a crusading rationalist who doubted the power of reason”. Oh, never mind then.

P.S. On the plus side, Gray’s preface included a few choice quotes from Joseph Conrad. For example:

“I have never been able to find in any man’s book or any man’s talk anything convincing enough to stand up for a moment against my deep-seated sense of fatality governing this man-inhabited world”

I’ve never read any Conrad, but I think I will shortly.