Logicism and its Philosophical Legacy

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.

Reviews & endorsements

'As a philosophy major at the University of Western Ontario in 1995 I was fortunate enough to enroll in Demopoulos' history of analytic philosophy class … The essays in this volume preserve the intensity and commitment to rigorous argumentation that I first encountered in that class twenty years ago. … I look forward to Demopoulos' next contribution to these important debates.' Chris Pincock, The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies

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Product details

• Date Published: January 2013
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781107029804
• length: 281 pages

• dimensions: 235 x 158 x 20 mm
• weight: 0.55kg
• contains: 2 b/w illus.
• availability: Available