Our Knowledge of the External World: As a Field for Scientific Method in Philosophy (Routledge Classics) - Softcover

‘It is in every sense an epoch-making book: one that has been needed and expected for years.’ - Cambridge Magazine

‘The author maintains a fresh and brilliant yet easy style which always makes his writings a pleasure to read.’ - Nature

Our Knowledge of the External World is a compilation of lectures Bertrand Russell delivered in the US in which he questions the very relevance and legitimacy of philosophy. In it he investigates the relationship between 'individual' and 'scientific' knowledge and questions the means in which we have come to understand our physical world. This is an explosive and controversial work that illustrates instances where the claims of philosophers have been excessive, and examines why their achievements have not been greater.