The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Volume 4: Foundations of Logic, 1903-05

Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell #4

by Bertrand Russell, Alasdair Urquhart (Editor)

This volume covers the period from the beginning of Whitehead and Russell's work on Volume 2 of the Principles of Mathematics to the critical discovery of the theory of descriptions in 1905. The volume contains a large number of unpublished manuscripts which give a vivd picture of Russell wrestling with the logical paradoxes, often unsuccessfully, as he tries out one foundational scheme after another. Previously unpublished work in the theory of denoting is included, which predates the famous article of 1905. This volume also gathers together several manuscripts on the so-called 'zig-zag' theory with which Russell attempted to provide a type-free foundation for mathematics. A number of reviews and survey articles, together with two talks on modality and truth, are also published for the first time.

805 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 1994

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."