Wow! eBook
Logicism and its Philosophical Legacy
Author(s): William Demopoulos (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 3 Jan. 2013
- Language: English
- Print length: 281 pages
- ISBN-10: 1107029805
- ISBN-13: 9781107029804
Book Description
The idea that mathematics is reducible to logic has a long history, but it was Frege who gave logicism an articulation and defense that transformed it into a distinctive philosophical thesis with a profound influence on the development of philosophy in the twentieth century. This volume of classic, revised and newly written essays by William Demopoulos examines logicism’s principal legacy for philosophy: its elaboration of notions of analysis and reconstruction. The essays reflect on the deployment of these ideas by the principal figures in the history of the subject – Frege, Russell, Ramsey and Carnap – and in doing so illuminate current concerns about the nature of mathematical and theoretical knowledge. Issues addressed include the nature of arithmetical knowledge in the light of Frege’s theorem; the status of realism about the theoretical entities of physics; and the proper interpretation of empirical theories that postulate abstract structural constraints.
