The author supports the claim that attempts to formulate a universal definition of the term “populism” are not worthwhile, because the sense of the term is usually determined by a specific social context. Understanding the utopian nature of populism provides a better understanding of the utopian nature of democracy and allows for a humble departure from dreams of a perfect social order, because, as has been shown in numerous survey studies, the contemporary shift of social mood, attitudes, and opinions toward some version of populism is a relatively simple consequence of the deficiencies of democracy in its neoliberal version.

An enormous output of Bertrand Russell breaks down into three groups. The first consists of works on logic, especially on philosophy of mathematics. But the program of reducing mathematics to logic, instead of providing certainty that Russell was looking for, multiplied our doubts. As a by‑product of these works, a program of logical analysis of ordinary language emerged and exerted a huge impact on the history of philosophy of the 20th century. But it did not fulfil the original hopes connected with it. The second group contains results of ontological and epistemological investigations. Here Russell achieved nothing, and what he proposed lay beyond the mainstream of 20th‑century ontology and epistemology. The third group was an outline of a social utopia, addressed to the general public. Professional philosophers ignored these works by Russell, and as a possible program to build a better world, they have become obsolete.