Bertrand Russell Quotes About Justification

• The chicken noticed that the farmer came every day to feed it. It predicted that the farmer would continue to bring food every day. Inductivists think that the chicken had "extrapolated" its observations into a theory, and that each feeding time added justification to that theory. Then one day the farmer came and wrung the chicken's neck. This inductively justifies the conclusion that induction cannot justify any conclusion.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, One Day, Necks

• Every philosophical problem, when it is subjected to the necessary analysis and justification, is found either to be not really philosophical at all, or else to be, in the sense in which we are using the word, logical.

  Bertrand Russell

  Philosophical, Analysis, Problem

  Bertrand Russell (2017). “Our Knowledge of the External World”, p.20, Jovian Press

• For some reason which I have failed to understand, many people like the system [scientific totalitarianism] when it is Russian but disliked the very same system when it was German. I am compelled to think that this is due to the power of labels; these people like whatever is labelled ‘Left’ without examining whether the label has any justification.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, People, Labels

  Bertrand Russell (2016). “The Impact of Science on Society”, p.40, Routledge

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