Principia Mathematica to *56, Volume 2

Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell

Cambridge University Press, Sep 11, 1997 - Mathematics - 410 pages

The great three-volume Principia Mathematica (CUP 1927) is deservedly the most famous work ever written on the foundations of mathematics. Its aim is to deduce all the fundamental propositions of logic and mathematics from a small number of logical premises and primitive ideas, establishing that mathematics is a development of logic. This abridged text of Volume I contains the material that is most relevant to an introductory study of logic and the philosophy of mathematics (more advanced students will of course wish to refer to the complete edition). It contains the whole of the preliminary sections (which present the authors' justification of the philosophical standpoint adopted at the outset of their work); the whole of Part I (in which the logical properties of propositions, propositional functions, classes and relations are established); section A of Part II (dealing with unit classes and couples); and Appendices A and C (which give further developments of the argument on the theory of deduction and truth functions).

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 1
• PART I MATHEMATICAL LOGIC: 85
• PART II PROLEGOMENA TO CARDINAL ARITHMETIC: 327
• APPENDIX A: 385
• APPENDIX C: 401
• LIST OF DEFINITIONS: 409

About the author

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic. He was best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Together with G.E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one of the main founders of modern analytic philosophy. Together with Kurt Gödel, he is regularly credited with being one of the most important logicians of the twentieth century. Over the course of a long career, Russell also made contributions to a broad range of subjects, including the history of ideas, ethics, political and educational theory, and religious studies. General readers have benefited from his many popular writings on a wide variety of topics. After a life marked by controversy--including dismissals from both Trinity College, Cambridge, and City College, New York--Russell was awarded the Order of Merit in 1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Noted also for his many spirited anti-nuclear protests and for his campaign against western involvement in the Vietnam War, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Principia Mathematica to *56, Volume 2; Cambridge Mathematical Library; Cambridge paperbacks; Mathematical Library
• Authors: Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell
• Edition: abridged, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0521626064, 9780521626064
• Length: 410 pages
• Subjects: Mathematics / History & Philosophy; Mathematics / Logic; Science / Mechanics / General