Marriage and Morals - Cultural Response

Cultural Response

Marriage and Morals prompted vigorous protests and denunciations against Russell during his visit to the United States shortly after the book's publication. A decade later, the book cost him his professorial appointment at the City College of New York due to a court judgment that his opinions made him “morally unfit” to teach. A public outcry, initiated by the mother of a student who was ineligible for his course in mathematical logic, preceded the ruling. John Dewey and several other intellectuals protested his treatment at the time. Albert Einstein’s often-quoted aphorism that “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds ... ” originated in his open letter in support of Russell, during this time.