Single Idea 6434

[catalogued under 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 8. Facts / a. Facts]

Full Idea

Facts, as I am using the word, consist always of relations between parts of a whole or qualities of single things; facts, in a word, are whatever there is except what (if anything) is completely simple.

Gist of Idea

Facts are everything, except simples; they are either relations or qualities

Source

Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.13)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'My Philosophical Development' [Routledge 1993], p.112


A Reaction

This is the view that goes with Russell's 'logical atomism', where the 'completely simple' is used to build up the 'facts'. If World War One was a fact, was it a 'relation' or a 'quality'. Must events then be defined in terms of those two?