Bertrand Russell Society
The Greater Rochester Russell Set
The Greater Rochester Russell Set meets on the second Thursday of each month at 7 PM at Writers & Books Literary Center, 740 University Avenue, Rochester, NY.We discuss the life, times, and ideas of Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), who made important contributions to mathematics, logic, and philosophy. He advocated equal rights for women, free thought in religion, and a rational sexual morality. Among his works are the Principia Mathematica, Why I Am Not A Christian, and Principles of Social Reconstruction.
Russell was jailed in 1918 for opposing World War One and in
1961 for protesting nuclear weapons in Britain. He was
awarded the 1950
Nobel Prize for Literature in recognition of his varied and
significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and
freedom of thought
.
Meetings are open to all. Admission is free to members of Writers & Books, $3 to all others.
Schedule
Lewis Neisner on Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes: Elementary, my Dear Russell
November 12, 2009 Lewis Neisner is a retired college professor. A Sherlock Holmes enthusiast for more than 50 years, he was president of the Six Napoleons, a Sherlockian Society in Baltimore, and he recently founded the Rochester Row, a Sherlockian Society in Rochester. For the past two years he has been teaching courses on Sherlock Holmes at the Osler Lifelong Learning Center at Rochester Institute of Technology.He will talk about the great fictional logician Sherlock Holmes and his creator Arthur Conan Doyle.
Gerry Wildenberg on Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
December 10, 2009 Gerry Wildenberg is professor of mathematics at St. John Fisher College and a founder of the Greater Rochester Russell Set. Like Bertrand Russell, he is a freethinker and rationalist, a mathematician, and a lover of Scotch whiskey and walking tours of Europe.Jon Krakauer's book tells the story of a double murder committed by Mormon fundamentalist brothers against the background of the history of Mormon history and polygamy, and in so doing raises questions about the nature of religious belief.
Ted Lechman on Alfred North Whitehead's Process and Reality
January 14, 2010Phil Ebersole on Russell's Marriage and Morals
February 11, 2010Tim Madigan on his book W. K. Clifford and 'The Ethics of Belief'
March 11, 2010Howard Blair on Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy: the Ambiguity of Arithmetic
April 9, 2010Ted Lechman on Why I Am Not an Atheist
May 13, 2010Changes
This schedule is subject to last-minute changes. For updates contact Phil Ebersole (phileb at frontiernet.net) or Tim Madigan at 585-415-5925.If there is a topic you wish discussed or, better still, you wish to make a presentation to the Greater Rochester Russell Set, speak to Phil Ebersole.
