Russell, Idealism, and the Emergence of Analytic Philosophy (Clarendon Paperbacks)

## Abstract In this book, the author seeks to shed light on the tradition of analytic philosophy by examining one important phase in its formation. This phase is Bertrand Russell's rejection of Absolute Idealism, and his development of a new philosophy based, in part, on the logic that he developed. The book begins by examining the British Idealism of T. H. Green and F. H. Bradley. Against this background, it discusses Russell's own early work, which was in this idealist tradition. The author then considers the philosophical views that G. E. Moore and Russell initially developed in reaction to that tradition (around 1900). In Russell's work, this philosophy was soon combined with the logic that he developed (following Peano) and with the thesis of logicism: that mathematics can be reduced to logic, and so makes no philosophical demands beyond those made by logic. The book examines subsequent developments in Russell's thought, to about 1912, in some detail; these include the theory of descriptions and the theory of types. It concludes with a less detailed discussion of the evolution of Russell's thought over the next few years. In this latter period, Russell develops a constructivist programme, which makes evident the continuity of this phase of his thought with that of later analytic philosophers. Preface......Page 1 Abbreviations......Page 4 Introduction......Page 6 1 T. H. Green......Page 18 2 F. H. Bradley......Page 36 3 Russell's Idealist Period......Page 57 Part II Platonic Atomism......Page 79 4 The Underlying Metaphysics......Page 87 5 Russell's Principles of Mathematics......Page 125 6 ‘On Denoting’......Page 178 Part III Logic, Fact, and Knowledge......Page 208 7 The Logic of Principia Mathematica......Page 212 8 Judgement, Belief, and Knowledge: The Emergence of a Method......Page 241 This book deals with a crucial period in the formation of twentieth-century analytic philosophy. It discusses the tradition of British Idealism, and the rejection of that tradition by Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore at the beginning of this century. It goes on to examine the very influential work of Russell in the period up to the First World War, and addresses the question of what we can learn about the nature of analytic philosophy through a close examination of its origins.

Analytic philosophy has become the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world. This book illuminates that tradition through a historical examination of a crucial period in its formation: the rejection of Idealism by Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the subsequent development of Russell's thought in the period before the First World War.

The author sheds light on the tradition of analytic philosophy by examining one important phase in its formation. This phase is Bertrand Russell's rejection of Absolute Idealism, and his development of a new philosophy based, in part, on the logic that he developed This study deals with a crucial period in the formation of 20th-century analytic philosophy. It discusses the tradition of British idealism, its rejection by Bertrand Russell and G.E. Moore, and the very influential work of Russell in the period before 1914.