Single Idea 21586

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 2. Logical Connectives / a. Logical connectives]

Full Idea

Such words as 'or' and 'not' are not names of definite objects, but are words that require a context in order to have a meaning. All of them are formal.

Gist of Idea

The logical connectives are not objects, but are formal, and need a context

Source

Bertrand Russell (Our Knowledge of the External World [1914], 7)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'Our Knowledge of the External World' [Routledge 1993], p.212


A Reaction

[He cites Wittgenstein's 1922 Tractatus in a footnote - presumably in a later edition than 1914] This is the most famous idea which Russell acquired from Wittgenstein. It was yet another step in his scaling down of ontology.