Back Cover - 19788 (copy)

19788
Missing: Back Cover

Rereading Russell was first published in 1989.

Though Betrand Russell is best known for his formative role in the creation of symbolic logic (the Principia Mathematica) and analytic philosophy, he was also among the founders of twentieth-century philosophy of science; he used his method of logical analysis to devise a metaphysics and epistemology that could accommodate revolutionary changes in physics and psychology. Yet these areas -- especially in his later work -- have been neglected and undervalued. The essays in Rereading Russell help to remedy that neglect, by calling attention to the whole sweep of his metaphysics and epistemology, from the turn of the century on, and by reevaluating his doctrines in the light of his entire philosophical corpus.

The sixteen contributors treat Russell not merely as a historical figure but also as a source of new ideas. Ranging over his work from the 1901 Principles of Mathematics to the 1959 summation, My Philosophical Development, they emphasize the unity and integrity of his metaphysical and epistemological writings. Their essays devote special attention to the later philosophy -- the doctrines developed in (and after) his 1927 book, The Analysis of Matter. The subjects covered fall into five groups: philosophy of mathematics and ontology; philosophy of language; epistemology; nondemonstrative inference; and the philosophy of science and metaphysics.