Bertrand Russell Quotes
When there are rational grounds for an opinion, people are content to set them forth and wait for them to operate. In such cases, people do not hold their opinions with passion; they hold them calmly, and set forth their reasons quietly. The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder's lack of rational conviction.
Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Scepticism." Sceptical Essays, George Allen & Unwin, 1928, p. 11.
This turns out to be very much a cultural phenomenon. Amongst educated Englishmen and many scientists and philosophers from America and other cultures but in some cultures opinions stated without passion are often not believed�this is particularly true in the Middle East but exists in many subcultures of America. In science, and the logical philosophy that Russell was so expert in, either you could prove something or you could not. If you could, the passion was unnecessary. If you could not, it was irrelevant. However, in most political issues, except those based on science, most assertions are not provable and although there may be some evidence for a view, it is not determinative. So volume. Bombast, and passion tries to persuade where logic cannot. Russell and many scientists and Philosophers distrust these statements, but the politician must deal with most of them, as public policy must be made whether the issue is scientifically demonstrable or not. Life and society must go on. However, when scientists testify before Congressional committees or in other political arenas, their lack of passion is taken by many as a lack of conviction or a lack of surety, while if they did speak with great passion, they would break the norms of the scientific community in which they work, for it is regarded as unethical to persuade people with anything but the evidence and logic.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell OM FRS was a British polymath, philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, writer, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. Bertrand Russell was one of the most influential and widely known intellectual figures of the twentieth century. In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his extensive contributions to world literature and for his “rationality and humanity, as a fearless champion of free speech and free thought in the West.“
