Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) died 40 years ago today. During my youth, he was my favorite philosopher, probably because he was an atheist. I even joined the Bertrand Russell Society. Russell died when I was 12. I wish I had had the presence of mind to write to him, as I did to so many others. I corresponded with R. M. Hare, Peter Singer, Alan White, John Wilson, and Antony Flew. Not many people know that John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was Russell's godfather. Their lives overlapped by one year.