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Single Idea 14449

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / e. Psychologism ]

Full Idea

There is always unavoidably something psychological about inference.

Gist of Idea

There is always something psychological about inference

Source

Bertrand Russell (Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy [1919], XIV)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy' [George Allen and Unwin 1975], p.149

A Reaction

Glad to find Russell saying that. Only pure Fregeans dream of a logic that rises totally above the minds that think it. See Robert Hanna on the subject.

The 3 ideas with the same theme [maths only exists as human psychological states]:

8621 Mental states are irrelevant to mathematics, because they are vague and fluctuating [Frege]
14449 There is always something psychological about inference [Russell]
15211 There is not an exclusive dichotomy between the formal and the logical [Harré/Madden]