When1: 1903
When2: 1969
Who: Bertrand Arthur William Russell [Russell, Bertrand Arthur William]
What: philosopher
Where: Britain
works\ Principles of Mathematics [1903]; On Denoting [1905: in Mind]; Principia Mathematica or Principles of Mathematics [1910 to 1913: about symbolic logic, with Whitehead]; Problems of Philosophy [1912]; Our Knowledge of the External World [1914]; Logical Atomism [1918]; Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy [1918]; Analysis of Mind [1921]; Outline of Philosophy [1927]; Analysis of Matter [1927]; Marriage and Morals [1929]; ABC of Relativity [1935 and 1958]; Inquiry into Meaning and Truth [1940]; History of Western Philosophy [1945]; Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Its Limits [1948]; Logic and Knowledge [1956]; Why I Am Not a Christian [1957]; Autobiography [1967 to 1969]
Detail: He lived 1872 to 1970 and was neo-realist. In logic, he developed theories of types, classes, and descriptions, to distinguish between logical and grammatical proposition subjects. He invented method of stating problems in logical symbols {philosophical logic}, to transform ordinary language into propositions. He axiomatized counting numbers and logic {logicism, Russell}.
Epistemology
Philosophy is about meaning and therefore language and logic. Philosophy also uses science. "What science cannot tell us, mankind cannot know."
Mathematics does not assert anything about physical world, only about logic and language.
Mind can know mental facts based on language or logic {knowledge by description, Russell}. These facts can be true or false. Mind has special relation to certain mental objects such as perceptions, introspections, and certain memory types {knowledge by acquaintance, Russell}. These are not about truth. Knowledge by description depends on objects known by knowledge by acquaintance, which provides definitions and meanings by representation.
Propositional functions form a hierarchy {proposition types}, based on variable and function categories. Variable type is one level below propositional-function type {theory of types, ramified} {ramified theory of types}. Propositional functions cannot apply to selves {theory of types, Russell}. Function types can be equivalent to first-order functions {axiom of reducibility, Russell}.
Existence, identity, and predication differ. Proper nouns identify individual things. Predicates identify object classes. Existence and description are separate and independent. Asserting existence {theory of descriptions} {descriptions theory} requires class descriptions of subject and predicate. Existences are not individual things, subjects, or predicates. Asserting quantification requires subjects or descriptions, not predicates. Quantifiers do not apply for all functions or types. Phrases like "the x" {definite description} indicate unique existence. Phrases like "an x" {indefinite description} indicate non-unique existence.
Meaningful-proposition subjects can refer to objects that do not exist. Descriptions do not refer to anything, so knowledge does not need acquaintance.
Numbers are classes of classes, and so mathematics can be a logical system.
Sentence symbols {incomplete symbol} can have meaning only in context.
All conditions define class {comprehension axiom}. This axiom is not consistent, because class can be about all things not in the class {Russell paradox, Russell}. Instead of "class", use the word "function" in these statements.
People have innate postulates, allowing inferences.
If statements change truth over time, change has happened. Something began or changed shape, size, position, or orientation.
Beliefs, wants, and desires relate person to proposition {propositional attitude, Russell}.
Appearances that radiate from objects go to minds and become sense-data, which are external to mind but phenomenal. Sense-data cause mental images, which are how appearances exist in nervous systems. Mental images can also arise from within mind. Sensed appearances relate to other appearances, so brain can distinguish them from unsensed appearances, which have no such relations.
Intention objects are not mental objects but physical objects.
People feel assent or dissent to belief content.
Ethics
Desire starts behavior, and satisfaction ends behavior.
Metaphysics
Reality is elementary predicates or sensations, which are either instantaneous or outside time {logical atomism, Russell}. Logical analysis can discover these logical atoms, which are independent and are neither physical nor mental {neutral monism, Russell}. Complex things, physical and mental, come from logical atoms by logical methods. Logical atoms radiate from physical event to cause appearances.
However, negative statements, independence, and exclusion cause problems for logical atomism, as does the possibility of logical analysis for complex statements like beliefs.
Mind
Mind can acquaint with itself as subject {ego, Russell}. Mind is not the set of all received appearances.
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Date Modified: 2022.0224