Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty.”
- Date
- 1912
Meaning of “The value of philosophy is, in fact, to…”
Russell argues that uncertainty can be intellectually valuable because it loosens inherited assumptions and makes room for examined alternatives.
Where does it come from?
The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter XV, “The Value of Philosophy,” printed page 242 / scan leaf 246 in the 1912 Williams & Norgate edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #5827. “The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty” begins Russell’s concluding account of how philosophical doubt can loosen unexamined certainty; this is philosophical argument, not an empirical psychological finding.
