Logic as Universal Science Russell's Early Logicism and its Philosophical Context

by Korhonen, Anssi

• ISBN13: 9780230577008
• ISBN10: 0230577008
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-02-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Bertrand Russell was a central figure in the rise of analytic philosophy, and there are few works in the genre whose influence is comparable toThe Principles of Mathematics(1903), a book that established him as a major force in British philosophy.Logic as Universal Sciencetakes a fresh look at the context ofThe Principles. This, it is argued, involves an extended argument against Kant's transcendental idealism and his conception of mathematics as a synthetic a priori science grounded in pure intuition. Philosophically, Russell's logicism substitutes pure logic for pure intuitions as the true source of mathematical knowledge. In this way, logic turns out to be a universal science and very far from Kant's general logic, which is a concise and dry science, delivering nothing but a purely formal criterion for knowledge. The picture of logic emerging from this opposition is investigated in detail for its content and consequences.

Author Biography

ANSSI KORHONEN is a Researcher in Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Russell's Early Logicism: What was it about?
Kant and Russell on the Mathematical Method
Russell and Kant on the Synthetic A priori
Russell's Ontological Logic
Russell and the Bolzanian Conception of Logic
Notes
Bibliography
Index