more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Explicit controversy is almost always fruitless in philosophy, owing to the fact that no two philosophers ever understand one another.
Gist of Idea
Philosophical disputes are mostly hopeless, because philosophers don't understand each other
Source
Bertrand Russell (Our Knowledge of the External World [1914], 1)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Our Knowledge of the External World' [Routledge 1993], p.29
A Reaction
Contemporaries don't even seem to read one another very much, especially these days, when there are thousands of professional philosophers. (If you are a professional, have you read all the works written by your colleagues and friends?)