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Full Idea
A proposition is essentially a unity, and when analysis has destroyed the unity, no enumeration of constituents will restore the proposition.
Gist of Idea
A proposition is a unity, and analysis destroys it
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §054)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Principles of Mathematics' [Routledge 1992], p.50
A Reaction
The question of the 'unity of the proposition' led to a prolonged debate.
| 16874 | The parts of a thought map onto the parts of a sentence [Frege] |
| 19472 | A sentence is only a thought if it is complete, and has a time-specification [Frege] |
| 14111 | A proposition is a unity, and analysis destroys it [Russell] |
| 19157 | Russell said the proposition must explain its own unity - or else objective truth is impossible [Russell, by Davidson] |
| 7526 | Hegelians say propositions defy analysis, but Moore says they can be broken down [Moore,GE, by Monk] |
| 15058 | A proposition ingredient is 'essential' if changing it would change the truth-value [Fine,K] |
| 19212 | Unity of the proposition questions: what unites them? can the same constituents make different ones? [Merricks] |
| 19213 | We want to explain not just what unites the constituents, but what unites them into a proposition [Merricks] |