Topic > A criticism of 'In Praise of Idlenes' by Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell (born 18 May 1872) was a well-known British philosopher who won a noble prize in 1950 for his writings on social, moral and political subjects . One of these writings is “In Praise of Idleness”, published in 1935. In the period from the underdeveloped state to the industrial revolution, when every landowner considered his idleness due to the work of others, it is necessary to eradicate these thoughts. As the title suggests, this article discusses the importance of free time in everyone's life. Although this article provides the basis for good arguments along with personal experiences, good use of structure along with transitions and punctuation, it stays focused on the statements and uses a respectable tone but sometimes uses sentences that create doubts in the reader's mind but still convinces the audience about his main idea. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In his article, Russell discusses the problem faced by people who think work is virtuous. Furthermore, he says that a person's idleness is only due to the whole gospel of work and that this must be eradicated, otherwise it will cause war and economic instability. He describes the culture of both classes by saying that along with women, men from rich families also do not take part in any work. By presenting his arguments and problems, he also presents the solution to the problems, which shows the foresight of the writer before any question arises in the reader's mind. Overall, he wants the reader to know the importance of free time in daily life. It can be argued that this article is written to show an opinion and that it can be made convincing by providing adequate and coherent arguments. He uses the political thesis by saying that if due attention is not given to everyone, economic confusion will be created. He uses persuasive tools to persuade his audience with pathos. These are all tricks that make reading effective and Russell used all of these techniques. At the beginning, Russell opens his article by describing a story that captures the reader's attention. He tries to persuade the reader by saying that he himself was raised that the work is highly virtuous, this demonstrates credibility to the author and strengthens his argument. This makes the reader think that he is writing against the importance of the work but by providing counterarguments he convinces the reader. For example: for some people work is simply a waste of time, but in defense of work, Russell made a logical statement that: "As long as a man spends his income, by spending he puts as much bread into people's mouths as he takes out out". of the mouths of others in earning”, this describes his credibility to answer questions from the public. But some people just make money from their savings which he calls “French peasant”, this use of specific words convinces the reader. These thoughts demonstrate that the author is impartial and if he defends free time he does not even oppose the importance of work. Those in power used the workers' belief that they worked only for the interests of their masters, and Russell noted this belief in the duty of work to the masters as “slave morality.” Furthermore, it provides a solution to this problem that "providing services rather than goods" should be enough to know the duty of work for self-satisfaction. The specific and engaging use of words attracts the reader's attention and persuades him emotionally using pathos. By questioning the topic and providing a solution, it makes the argument more realistic. Furthermore,faces questions from those who oppose his arguments, he says, considering that rich families are poor only for working and what do they want from holidays? Russell supports this idea by comparing the economic culture of the West and Russia and considers it unfaireconomic culture will lead to war and destruction. This war thought keeps alive in the reader's mind the idea that will persuade him to believe the reader's argument that economic justice and equal pleasure must be maintained between poor and rich. Furthermore, Russell questions the morality of the slave state and the use of logos by giving the example of pin manufacturing, says that giving people rest would be considered demoralizing, and captures the reader's attention with emotional appeal by saying that it is very It's crazy to think this way about the poor. . Furthermore, he gives the solution to this problem by saying that the scientific organization of production can reduce the worker's work and give him pleasure. This shows that the writer provides arguments and solutions to what he is saying and gives the reader a valid reason to prove that his argument is valid. Furthermore, in convincing the reader of his arguments, Russell has used counter arguments and solutions so that whatever question arises in the reader's mind, he will get the answer/solution. This shows the writer's reflections on what statement he made. For example, when he says “Free time is essential to civilization, and in the past free time for a few was only made possible by the work of the many. But their labors were valuable, not because the work is good, but because the free time is good.” Furthermore, using rhetorical devices, he uses the word “Mediterranean sun”, which means that revolution is needed for something good to happen and where there is no sun (change), there is no hope for anything good to happen. Furthermore, he states that if his arguments make sense with respect to the use of ethos, he describes that the YCMA will work on his claim, this attracts the reader and persuades him by using credible sources. Using correct punctuation and Aristotelian appeals he convinces the audience. Uses ethos, logos and pathos to persuade the audience, the credibility of the author providing arguments using personal experiences establishes the ethos. Since this article was written to persuade the audience by using logical appeals and providing historical context, it establishes logos, for example, when it gives an example of pin production and states that this amount of work can be done even using fewer working hours . What makes the article more persuasive is that by raising those arguments that most people probably think too, where Russell says no worker will say he likes doing manual labor, this argument appeals to the reader's emotion because he same thought appears in the article. reader's mind and this is a pathetic appeal. On top of all this, convince the audience by presenting your claim with data and guarantees because without these two things your claim will not be convincing. He claims that the work is not virtuous and his data are; because work does not give pleasure while idleness gives pleasure and its guarantee is that pleasure is a morality that we should pursue to achieve happiness. All these are the positive points: coherence, connections between ideas, Aristotelian references, arguments with counterarguments, described above, which make the author's main idea convincing. However, there is one point in the article that seems to confuse his argument. When he states that one's idleness is due to the work of others, supporting this, he also says that “free time is essential for civilization”. This proves that, 1935