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Ideas from 'Introduction to Russell's Theory of Types' by Willard Quine [1967], by Theme Structure

[found in 'From Frege to Gödel 1879-1931' (ed/tr Heijenoort,Jean van) [Harvard 1967,0-674-32449-8]].

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4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 4. Axioms for Sets / p. Axiom of Reducibility
18170 The Axiom of Reducibility is self-effacing: if true, it isn't needed
                        Full Idea: The Axiom of Reducibility is self-effacing: if it is true, the ramification it is meant to cope with was pointless to begin with.
                        From: Willard Quine (Introduction to Russell's Theory of Types [1967], p.152), quoted by Penelope Maddy - Naturalism in Mathematics I.1
                        A reaction: Maddy says the rejection of Reducibility collapsed the ramified theory of types into the simple theory.