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  • Essay / A review of “In Praise of the Idle” by Bertrand Russell

    Bertrand Russell (born 18 May 1872) was a well-known British philosopher who won the Noble Prize in 1950 because of his writings on social, moral subjects and policies. . One of these writings is "In Praise of Idleness", published in 1935. During the period from underdevelopment to the industrial revolution, when every landowner considered his own idleness as labor from others, it is necessary to eradicate these thoughts. As the title suggests, this article is about the importance of free time in everyone's life. Although this article provides the basis for good arguments as well as personal experiences, good use of structure as well as transitions and punctuation, remains focused on the claim and uses a respectable tone, but it sometimes uses sentences that create doubts in the reader's mind, but it still convinces the audience. on its main idea. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not 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 gospel of work and that this must be eradicated, otherwise it would cause war and economic instability. He describes the culture of both classes by saying that like women, men from wealthy families do not participate in any work. By presenting his arguments and problems, he also presents a solution to the problems, which shows the foresight of the writer before a question arises in the reader's mind. Overall, he wants the reader to know the importance of leisure in daily life. It can be said that this article is written to express an opinion and it can be made convincing by presenting appropriate and coherent arguments. He uses the argument of politics saying that if everyone is not taken care of, economic confusion arises. He uses persuasive tools to persuade his audience like pathos. These are all devices that make reading effective and Russell used all of these techniques. At the beginning, Russell opens his article by describing a story that grabs the reader's attention. He tries to persuade the reader by saying that he himself was raised to say that work is very virtuous, this shows the credibility of the author and strengthens his argument. This leads the reader to think that he is writing against the importance of work, but by providing counterarguments he convinces the reader. For example: For some people, work is just a waste of time, but in defense of work, Russell made a logical statement: "As long as a man spends his income, so much does he put bread in his mouth people by spending that he gets from the mouths of others to earn,” this describes that he has credibility to answer questions from the audience. But some are content to earn money whom he described as "French peasant", this use of precise words convinces the reader. These reflections show that the author is impartial and if he defends leisure, he does not oppose the importance of work either. Those in power exploited the workers' belief that they work only in the interests of their masters, and Russell noted this belief in the masters' duty to work as "slave morality." Furthermore, he gives the solution to this problem: “providing services rather than goods” should be enough to know the duty to work for one's own satisfaction. The specific and eye-catching use of words grabs the reader's attention and persuades them emotionally throughpathos. By questioning the argument and providing a solution, it makes the argument more realistic. He also addresses questions from people who oppose his arguments, he says, considering rich families that poor people are only there to work and what do they expect from vacations? Russell defends this idea by comparing the economic culture of the West and Russia and asserts that an unfair economic culture will lead to war and destruction. This war thinking keeps alive in the reader's mind the idea that will persuade him to believe the reader's argument that economic justice and equality of pleasure must be maintained between poor and rich. Additionally, Russell questions the morality of the slave state and uses logos by giving the example of pin making, says that giving people a rest would be considered demoralizing, and grabs the reader's attention with a emotional appeal to the fact that it is very foolish to think this way about the poor. . Moreover, he gives the solution to this problem by saying that the scientific organization of production can reduce the work of the worker and give him pleasure. This shows that the writer is providing arguments as well as solutions to what he is saying and providing the reader with the right reason why his argument is valid. Moreover, to convince a reader about his arguments, Russell used counter-arguments and solutions so that whatever question arises in the reader's mind, he gets the answer/solution. This shows the writer’s foresight about the claims he made. For example, when he says: “Leisure is essential to civilization, and in the past, the leisure of a few was only made possible by the work of the many. But their work was valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good.” Furthermore, using rhetorical devices, he uses the word "Mediterranean sun", which means that revolution is necessary for something good to happen and that where there is no sun (of change), there is there is no hope of anything good happening. Furthermore, he says that if his arguments make sense rather than using ethos, he describes that the YCMA will work on their claim, this will attract the reader and persuade them using credible sources. Using correct punctuation and Aristotle's appeals, he persuades the audience. It uses ethos, logos and pathos to persuade the audience, the credibility of the author giving arguments using personal experiences he establishes ethos. As this article is written to persuade the audience by using logical appeals and giving historical context, it establishes logos, for example, when it gives an example of pin making and claims that this amount of work can also be carried out using fewer man hours. What makes the article more compelling is that in making the arguments that most people are equally likely to think, Russell says that no worker will say that they like doing manual labor, this argument appeals to the reader's emotion because the same thought appears in the reader's mind and it is a pathetic appeal. On top of all this, he convinces the audience by presenting his claims with data and guarantees, because without these two elements his claims will not be convincing. He claims that the work is not virtuous and its 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 for happiness. These are all positive points: the coherence, the connections between ideas, the appeals of Aristotle, the arguments with, 1935