In 1959, mathematician, logician and philosopher, Bertrand Russell was asked for what advice he would wish to be remembered by future generations if he assumed his answer would be unearthed in 1,000 years’ time like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
His answer, he declared then, was in two parts: intellectual and moral.
The intellectual thing I should want to say to them is this: when you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But, look only and solely at what are the facts. That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say.
The moral thing that I should wish to say to them is very simple. I should say “love is wise; hatred is foolish”. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. We have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way… If we are to live together and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.
To my mind, the humanity and the hope embedded in these words is immediately striking for the way that it speaks to the heart of the work of educational leaders. We have intellectual and moral duties; we design and impart intellectual and moral lessons; we strive to develop in ourselves and our colleagues, through the nature of our deeply human endeavour, the essence of Russell’s intellectual and moral advice.
In a great many ways, the education profession is responsible for building a bridge between the two parts of Russell’s advice and, to the casual observer, making it look easy, though we know that this is not the case. In so doing, each of us draws on our humanity and hope to lead in our conversations, in our classrooms, and in our schools, undertaking the vital work that public philosopher Alain de Botton refers to as “rehearsing all that is theoretically known yet practically forgotten”.
Russell’s advice was as cogent and deceptively simple in 1959 as it is now, a mere 63 years later. Is it too much to hope for the sake of humanity that his advice speaks still to those who come across it in the year 2959?
Alexander Mason is Leader of Teaching & Learning Innovation at St Peters Lutheran College Springfield. Alexander has been an ACEL New Voice Scholar and is in his second term as a member of the ACEL Queensland Branch Executive. He is a Fellow of ACEL Qld.
Alexander Mason
Leader of Teaching & Learning Innovation, St Peters Lutheran College