Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves.
Bertrand Russell The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter XV, The Value of Philosophy (1912)
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the last chapter of The Problems of Philosophy, published in 1912.
- Why
- Russell is explaining what philosophy is good for if it rarely settles anything.
What it means
Russell defends questions that do not end in answers. They widen what we think is possible and loosen the grip of certainty.
A good journal question works the same way: its value is in the asking.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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The Problems of Philosophy, 1912
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