Sophomoric

Abstract

September 25, 2010 (2:45 pm) C:\Users\Milt\Desktop\backup copy of Ken's G\WPData\TYPE3001\russell 30,1 032 red corrected.wpd 90 Reviews SOPHOMORIC Peter Stone Center for Ethics and Public ATairs / Tulane U. New Orleans, la 70118, usa pstone@tulane.edu Jyotish Ch. Basak. Bertrand Russell’s Socio-Political Ideas. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2008. Pp. xii, 146. isbn: 978-8172112547. Rs. 500. There really is no better word for describing the book Bertrand Russell’s SocioPolitical Ideas than “sophomoric”. The author, Jyotish Basak, apparently holds a ph.d. from Aligarh Muslim University. He is currently a reader in the philosophy department of the University of North Bengal, and has published a previous book dealing with ethical issues surrounding human genetics. And yet despite these seemingly reasonable credentials, Basak has produced the sort of book I might expect an undergraduate student to write. And not a particularly bright one, either. While reading Basak’s book, it is impossible not to notice the grammatical September 25, 2010 (2:45 pm) C:\Users\Milt\Desktop\backup copy of Ken's G\WPData\TYPE3001\russell 30,1 032 red corrected.wpd Reviews 91 and spelling errors which plague almost every page. Basak’s publisher, Northern Book Centre, claims to be “Publishers of Scholarly Reference Books”. But at this particular publishing company, either nobodyknowshowtooperatethespelling and grammar checker on a word-processing programme, or else no one is fully proWcient in English. I’ve had students who write papers with this many typos, but to the best of my knowledge none of them have ever published two books. One might think it unfair to hold Basak responsible for the incompetence of his publisher. Perhaps, but it is certainly fair to hold him responsible for the content of the book he allegedly wrote. Why do I say “allegedly”? Well, consider his description of Russell’s Autobiography. He writes, “In his Autobiography Russell mentioned three passions, which were although simple, yet overwhelmingly strong, that governed his life. These passions are: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suTering of mankind” (p. 3). He quotes Russell immediately thereafter, apparently hoping that no one would notice that he has been quoting Russell, with minor word changes, all along. The very next paragraph reads as follows: He has given three reasons for his passion for love. First, he sought it because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that he would often have sacriWced all the rest of his life for a few hours of this joy. Second, love relieves loneliness. Third, in the union of love he had seen, “in a mystic miniature, the preWguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined”. (P. 3) Anyone who loves Russell’s Autobiography, especially its beautiful prologue, will recognize these words, which Basak would like us to believe are his own. And so it goes for the next two paragraphs, until there is no more of Russell’s prologue left to plagiarize. A minor oversight? Here’s Basak’s description of anarchism: The modern Anarchism is associated with belief in the communal ownership of land and capital. In this respect it is akin to Socialism. Socialism and Anarchist Communism alike have arisen from the perception that private capital is a source of tyranny by certain individuals over others. The diTerence in them is that whereas orthodox Socialism believes that the individual will become free if the state becomes the sole capitalist, Anarchists do not subscribe to this view. Anarchists fear that in that case the state might merely inherit the tyrannical propensities of the private capitalists. Accordingly, it seeks for a means of reconciling communal ownership with the utmost possible diminution in the powers of the state, and indeed ultimately with the complete abolition of the state. (P. 27) And here’s Russell’s description of anarchism in Roads to Freedomz: The modern Anarchism … is associated with belief in the communal ownership of land and capital, and is thus in an important respect akin to Socialism.… Socialism and Anarchist Communism alike have arisen from the perception that private capital is a source of tyranny by certain individuals over...