Russell's Metaphysical Logic: Volume 101 (Center for the Study of Language and Information Publication Lecture Notes) - Softcover

Linsky, Bernard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1575862107 ISBN 13: 9781575862101

Publisher: The Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications, 1999

Synopsis

This study reconciles distinct aspects of Russell's thought long thought to be incompatible, the metaphysics of universals and facts from Russell's Logical Atomism period and the philosophical justification of the ramified theory of types in the Introduction to Principia Mathematica. This account, which interprets Russell as being a realist about both universals and propositional functions, while distinguishing the two, provides a defense of some problematic features of the logic of PM including the Axiom of Reducibility and the Vicious Circle Principle. Russell's seemingly ambivalent attitude towards propositions and functions is explained by interpreting both with a broadened notion of logical construction. Contrary to other recent interpretations, this account follows Alonzo Church's technical formulation of the ramified theory of types and interprets the quantifiers as objectual, ranging over functions as entities, while being consistent with the 'multiple relation' theory of judgment.

About this title

About the Author

Bernard Linsky is professor of philosophy at the University of Alberta and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of The Evolution of Principia Mathematica: Bertrand Russell's Manuscripts and Notes for the Second Edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1575862107
• ISBN 13: 9781575862101
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 158