more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Every proposition function …has, in addition to its range of truth, a range of significance, i.e. a range within which x must lie if φ(x) is to be a proposition at all, whether true or false. This is the first point of the theory of types.
Gist of Idea
As well as a truth value, propositions have a range of significance for their variables
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], App B:523), quoted by Ofra Magidor - Category Mistakes 1.2
Book Ref
Magidor,Ofra: 'Category Mistakes' [OUP 2013], p.8
A Reaction
Magidor quotes this as the origin of the idea of a 'category mistake'. It is the basis of the formal theory of types, but is highly influential in philosophy generally, especially as a criterion for ruling many propositions as 'meaningless'.
Related Idea
Idea 18003 In 'x is a u', x and u must be of different types, so 'x is an x' is generally meaningless [Russell, by Magidor]
| 11034 | The differentiae of genera which are different are themselves different in kind [Aristotle] |
| 12491 | Asking whether man's will is free is liking asking if sleep is fast or virtue is square [Locke] |
| 8632 | You can't transfer external properties unchanged to apply to ideas [Frege] |
| 8468 | The sentence 'procrastination drinks quadruplicity' is meaningless, rather than false [Russell, by Orenstein] |
| 6437 | The theory of types makes 'Socrates and killing are two' illegitimate [Russell] |
| 18002 | As well as a truth value, propositions have a range of significance for their variables [Russell] |
| 21561 | 'The number one is bald' or 'the number one is fond of cream cheese' are meaningless [Russell] |
| 18706 | Words of the same kind can be substituted in a proposition without producing nonsense [Wittgenstein] |
| 18004 | We can't do philosophy without knowledge of types and categories [Ryle] |
| 17998 | Category mistakes are either syntactic, semantic, or pragmatic [Magidor] |
| 18019 | People have dreams which involve category mistakes [Magidor] |