MYSTICISM AND LOGIC

Russell begins by defining mysticism as the belief in a reality that is beyond the physical world and can only be apprehended through intuition or personal experience. He then contrasts this with logic which he defines as the process of using reason and evidence to arrive at conclusions. While these two approaches to understanding the world may seem very different Russell argues that they are not entirely incompatible. He suggests that both mysticism and logic are attempts to understand reality but they approach this goal in different ways. Mystics use intuition and personal experience to gain insight into reality while logicians use reason and evidence to arrive at conclusions about reality.