Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 PHILOSOPHY OF PROBABILITY
- Chapter 2 BELIEF AND TRUTH
- Chapter 3 KNOWLEDGE
- Chapter 4 GENERAL PROPOSITIONS AND CAUSALITY
- Chapter 5 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
- Chapter 6 LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS
- Chapter 7 RAMSEY'S THEOREM
- Chapter 8 UNIVERSALS
- Chapter 9 ECONOMICS
- Chapter 10 BIOGRAPHICAL GLIMPSES
- Notes
- Bibliography of F. P. Ramsey's works
- Index of names
Chapter 6 - LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 PHILOSOPHY OF PROBABILITY
- Chapter 2 BELIEF AND TRUTH
- Chapter 3 KNOWLEDGE
- Chapter 4 GENERAL PROPOSITIONS AND CAUSALITY
- Chapter 5 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
- Chapter 6 LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS
- Chapter 7 RAMSEY'S THEOREM
- Chapter 8 UNIVERSALS
- Chapter 9 ECONOMICS
- Chapter 10 BIOGRAPHICAL GLIMPSES
- Notes
- Bibliography of F. P. Ramsey's works
- Index of names
Summary
For a generation of philosophers Ramsey is probably best known as ‘the one who revised the theory of types suggested in Principia Mathematica’. At least this is the impression one gets looking up what is said about him in philosophical dictionaries or works on the history of philosophy (more often than not, he is not even mentioned). But it should be clear by now that Ramsey has made significant contributions to various other areas of research. There are several reasons for emphasizing his contributions to formal logic and mathematics. In the 1920s and 1930s, many philosophers were occupied with digesting the new theses of Principia Mathematica and Tractatus. Ramsey's profound and important criticism of these two works of philosophy has, of course, contributed to his reputation. Another reason Ramsey is primarily known for his works on logic and mathematics might be the somewhat misleading title of the first edition of his collected papers. Braithwaite obviously thought it would be a good idea to let the first essay of the volume, ‘The Foundations of Mathematics’, give its name to the book. But a book with this title hardly entices a larger audience. And this is true regardless of how many other brilliant (non-formal) papers the book contains. The most likely reason for Ramsey's reputation as a logician is, however, the simple fact that his contributions to formal logic and mathematics are of a remarkable power.
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- Information
- The Philosophy of F. P. Ramsey , pp. 159 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990