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Single Idea 6089

[from 'The Philosophy of Logical Atomism' by Bertrand Russell, in 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / d. Logical atoms ]

Full Idea

I call my doctrine logical atomism because, as the last residue of analysis, I wish to arrive at logical atoms and not physical atoms; some of them will be particulars, and others will be predicates and relations and so on.

Gist of Idea

Logical atomism aims at logical atoms as the last residue of analysis

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism [1918], §I)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'Russell's Logical Atomism', ed/tr. Pears,David [Fontana 1972], p.33


A Reaction

However we judge it, logical atomism is a vital landmark in the history of 'analytical' philosophy, because it lays out the ideal for our assessment. It is fashionable to denigrate analysis, but I think it is simply the nearest to wisdom we will ever get.