Bertrand Russell on science, education and democracy

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell contends that "science education — something that leaves much to be desired nearly a century later — is key to attaining a future of happiness and democracy." In his 1926 book Education and the Good Life Russell writes about the good life, science, democracy and the importance of education.

For the first time in history, it is now possible, owing to the industrial revolution and its byproducts, to create a world where everybody shall have a reasonable chance of happiness. Physical evil can, if we choose, be reduced to very small proportions. It would be possible, by organization and science, to feed and house the whole population of the world, not luxuriously, but sufficiently to prevent great suffering. It would be possible to combat disease, and to make chronic ill-health very rare. … All this is of such immeasurable value to human life that we dare not oppress the sort of education which will tend to bring it about. in such an education, applied science will have to be the chief ingredient. Without physics and physiology and psychology, we cannot build the new world.

Bertrand Russell on human nature, construction vs. destruction, and science as a key to democracy | Brain Pickings