Debate or Statement of Belief?

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I was quite surprised upon listening to this debate at Russell's approach to discussion. To be frank, I expected much more from his discussion skills as a prolific philosopher than what I felt was displayed. I don't know about the rest of you, but what I heard from Russell was a constant re-statement of his opinion, and even a bit of fluster in his speech when Copleston would ask him clarifying and pressing questions. When Copleston would ask a question on terminology to try and get on the same page, Russell would move the discussion to yet another argument that he saw as illogical to his opinion. We see this done when he moves the discussion from the necessary and contigent being to the ontological argument. Notice even when he does this, there is not in depth proofs given as to why he dislike these arguments, but rather a general overview of their illogicality. I think Russell does really well (at least what we have read thus far) being clear and thorough with his points in "Problems of Philosophy." I'm not thinking he does so much in this debate.

Comments

  1. Ty GoramFebruary 2, 2018 at 1:52 PM

    I expected a lot more as well, just given from what we've read in class. I got that exact interpretation as well. He seemed to continue to go back to the beginning of the debate and revisit those topics instead of directly answering the questions asked of him.

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  2. Zelda PeachFebruary 2, 2018 at 6:16 PM

    I personally think that Russell didn't think that some of the questions (that I also was personally interested in) were worth discussing! You could tell by his voice that he sounded a bit annoyed even when Fr.Copleston pressed any further into a topic. It was a little funny to be honest.

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  3. Natalie SchulerFebruary 2, 2018 at 8:23 PM

    We discussed this in class too when we kept wanting Russell to clearly define what he meant by "real". Maybe it's a characteristic style of his? Lol. Honestly, I feel the same way you did. I found myself wanting more from his responses and questions.

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  4. Brenna StringfellowFebruary 2, 2018 at 11:41 PM

    I do agree with you on Russell not really going in depth with his points in this debate. I believe that's probably why I was so let down after expecting so much due to the fact I have thoroughly enjoyed reading "The Problems of Philosophy".

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