essay by Russell. His main focus was on stereotypes and superstitions in this essay

1. By Bertrand Russell
1872-1970

2.  Born in a liberal and an influential family of the British aristocracy
 Often contemplated suicide
 Educated by tutors
 Beacon Hill School: founded with his second wife Dora Russell in 1927
 Married 4 times and had 3 children (Alys, Dora Black, Patricia Helen Spence, Edith
Finch)
 He and his wife became legal guardians of three of his grand-daughters
 British philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer
 Nobel prize for literature – 1950
 Iconoclastic modern philosopher

4.  Pacifist activist in World War I
 Convicted under the Defence of the Realm Act.
 Imprisoned for six months for lecturing against inviting US to join War on Britain's
side
 Jailed for 7 days for being in anti-neuclear demonstration in London at the age 89

5.  Taught German Social Democracy at the London School of Commerce.
 Over the long course of his career he made a lot of contributions
 Many of his writings have influenced generations of general readers

6. Died of influenza
in 1970
No religious
ceremony
Ashes scattered
over the Welsh
mountains

7.  The author starts with the mentioning of a philosopher who lived a century before
him, i.e. Jeremy Bentham, who famously stated that “people ought to make soups
of their dead grandmothers.”
 Many people disapproved of Bentham psychological ideas and considered him as a
bad man.
 Russell then describes the social reforms of the Victorian Era and mentions that
much of the progress was influenced by the progressive ideas and philosophy of
Bentham who promoted utilitarianism.

8.  Russell evaluated the difficulty and dilemma of answering children, or their more
adult version, just as to what a “good man” is?
 Russell deflates, debunks, and criticizes the conventionally defined “good man”.
 In other words, attacks these “good men” who represent the unjust power of the
dominant classes
 Although, on closing his essay, Russell gives hope of science and reason
 All of this will make men realize that institutions based on hatred will not produce
happy societies
 “Good men” need morality based on “love of life… pleasure in growth, and not upon
repression or exploitation”

9.  Divided into three sections
1. Section I: introduction to a century old philosopher and his philosophies
2. Section II: a brief introduction to generally accepted concept of “good men”
3. Section III: use of men in various aspects

10.  Introduction to Jeremy Bentham and his philosophies
 Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher who lived a century before Russell.
 First impression of Bentham on Russell: very wicked
 “People ought to make soups of their dead grandmothers” (line 5)
 Hence the philosophies given by Bentham were not accepted by the people of that
time
 Later on it was found out by Russell that bentham was actually accused of defining a
“good man”
 “A ‘good man’ as a man who does good.” (line 13)

11.  Immanuel Kent (1724-1804)
 “…a kind of action is not virtuous if it springs from affection for the beneficiary, but
only if it is inspired by the moral law,…” (line 16 – line 17)
 Kent is more sublime moralist than Bentham
 Bentham fulfilled his own definition of a good man: he did much good

12.  Years of incredibly rapid progress, materially, intellectually, and morally
 Reform Acts: Representative of the Middle Class, not of aristocracy
 Other reform: Abolition of slavery in Jamaica
 The Corn Laws, abolished in 1846
 Compulsory education was introduced in 1870

13. Main Idea of the section
A brief introduction to generally accepted concept of “good men”

14. He indicates that the real meaning of
‘good’ and ‘morals’ maybe debatable and
even though there is a general public
acceptance of what they mean

15.  Encouraging patriotism and military training
 Promoting industry , sobriety, and virtue
 Preserving a misguided respect for learning to allow professors who have subversive
idea to be employed

16.  “He has a still greater horror of wrong thinking, and considers it the business of the
authorities to safeguard the young against those who question the wisdom of the
views generally accepted by middle-aged successful citizens.” (line 4)
 “…he may promote industry, sobriety, and virtue among wage-earners and their
children by seeing to it that failures in these respects receive due punishment;…”
(line 8)
 “…he may be a trustee of a university and prevent an ill-judged respect for learning
from allowing the employment of professors with subversive ideas.” (line 10)
 ”Above all, of course, his 'morals', in the narrow sense, must be irreproachable.”
(line 11)

17.  Three uses of men among politics
1. Affording a smoke-screen (para. 2)
2. Keeping undesirables out of the politics (para. 3)
3. Getting good men themselves murdered (para. 4)
 Implied meaning of the three uses:
are the actual harm that good men do.

18.  Reasons why ‘smoke-screen’ is mentioned
1. Part of his goodness:
A good man is quite credulous, trusting and will never suspect his friends of shady
actions.
1. Part of his utility:
A good man will never be suspected by the public of using his goodness to screen
villains.
 American president (line 9) – Warren Gamaliel Harding

19.  1865-1923
 29th president of the US
 Overwhelming vote in postwar reaction against president Wilson’s international
policies
 The first president to take office after WWI
 Also the first to be born after the Civil War
 His reputation did not long survive his death, as scandal after scandal came into
light.
 The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Time. (Also by Russell)

20. “Among politicians good men have their uses, the chief of which is to afford a smoke-
screen behind which others can carry on their activities unsuspected.” (Para. 2,line 1)
“A good man will never be suspected by the public of using his goodness to screen
villains : this is part of his utility.” (Para. 2, line 3)
“It is clear that this combination of qualities makes a good man extremely desirable
wherever a somewhat narrow-minded public objects to the transference of public
funds into the hands of the deserving rich.” (Para. 2, line 4)
“I am told -- though far be it from me to endorse this statement -- that at a not very
distant period in history there was an American President who was a good man and
served this purpose.” (Para. 2, line 6)

21.  They are the ones who may or may not have committed breaches of the moral law
but who are not wanted for one reason or another, mostly political
 Ways to keep such people out of the line:
1. To publicize the facts and make the person disappear
2. To compel the person to retire into a private life
3. To blackmail the person

22. Heir to the Austro-
Hungarian Empire
Assassinated on June
28th, 1914, when he
was returning from
an official visit to the
City Hall

23. “If he had not died as he did, we might not have had the
war, and then the world would not have been made safe
for democracy, nor would militarism have been
overthrown, nor should we be now enjoying military
despotisms in Spain, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Russia.” (Para. 5, line 4)

24.  Some Factors attributing to the harm that good men do.
 The concept of superstition and rationalism

25.  The standards of the so-called goodness are not carefully planned
 Two main causes:
1. Tradition
2. The unjust power of the dominant classes

26. “Primitive morality seems to have developed out of the notion of taboo; that is to
say, it was originally purely superstitious, and forbade certain perfectly harmless
acts (such as eating out of the chief's dish) on the supposed ground that they
produced disaster by magical means.” (Para. 6, line 4)
 The notion of restriction – primitive morality
 People have been doing this for centuries and even today in most parts of the world
they believe in superstations like black cat, Friday the 13th, walking under a ladder,
and many more..

27. “Our current ethic is a curious mixture of superstition and rationalism.”
(Para. 7, line 1)
 We deal with crimes like theft, murder, heist, and so on logically; yet we still
believe in some superstations
“….that virtue consists in not doing rather than in doing.” (Para. 7, line 4)

28.  Bentham advocated and expected:
“the greatest happiness of the greatest number” as the basis of morals.
 Russell supported Bentham on his ideas of morality
 Official morality, which the society may or may not live by.
 Russell replies to this and say “Official morality has always been oppressive and
negative:….” (Para. 8, line 9)
 In short, traditional morality is so strong that large scale improvements are unlikely
to be seen

29. “More is to be hoped, I think, from the progress
of reason and science. Gradually men will come
to realize that a world whose institutions are
based upon hatred and injustice is not the one
most likely to produce happiness.” (para. 9,
line 1)