Exploring Russell's Pursuit Of Knowledge Certainty From The Perspective Of Epistemology

Bertrand Arthur William Russell is a famous Western philosopher,mathematician,logician in the 20 th century,and one of the founders of modern Western analytical philosophy.His philosophical thoughts can be said to be changeable compared to other philosophers.This variability is not reflected in unfounded capriciousness.Instead,we can see his own respect for philosophy and self-implacable self-criticism.This feature is particularly prominent in Russell's epistemology.Russell's own love for mathematics has induced his thinking on the issue of "What is it that people can know?".This thinking is especially reflected in his pursuit of knowledge certainty.Russell's epistemology is largely influenced by rationalism and empiricism.Descartes' s proposition "I think I am" provides Russell with inspiration for finding reliable logical bases;The tradition of empiricism also influenced his emphasis on sensory experience and his thinking on induction;So how does cognition rise from sensory experience to true knowledge? Russell first classifies our knowledge under two types,that is,about things and about truths,and then discusses how scientific knowledge is possible.Although later,either of the two methods,induction and deduction,pointed to the conclusion that deterministic knowledge was impossible,Russell still acknowledged the role of induction in the formation of knowledge,and proposed five scientific postulate for it.Try to protect the inductive principle finally.But the result of the pursuit of intellectual certainty is clear.After a full demonstration,any knowledge seems to escape the shroud of skepticism.Finally,Russell came to a different conclusion.He exclaims that "all human knowledge is uncertain,imprecise and incomplete."The certainty of knowledge should not be absolute.Russell later introduced "credibility" to assess the truth of knowledge.Therefore,the persistent pursuit of absolute certainty knowledge or the pouring of existing knowledge into the furnace of skepticism is an inappropriate understanding of science and knowledge.This is also the inspiration we have obtained when analyzing Russell's question of knowledge certainty.Although the pursuit of intellectual certainty ended with failure,Russell's division of knowledge and description of things in this process influenced the great changes in the "linguistic turn" in the history of philosophy;His logical atomism also profoundly influenced the later development of the philosophy of the Vienna Circle.The thought about epistemology in thisprocess also provides valuable thinking meaning for us to understand the world and gain knowledge in the future.