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BERTRAND RUSSELL'S TRIUMPH AND FAILURE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

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Abstract

Bertrand Russell was, along with G.E. Moore, deserving of accolade as a founder of analytic philosophy, and of its close companion, the linguistic turn. Here I explain how his ‘Theory of Descriptions’ relocates philosophy's concern with appearance and reality as a concern with grammatical surface and logical depth. I then on remark the irony of Russell's unhappiness with views to the effect that an ethical judgment is not, despite linguistic appearances, really something that can be true or false. A further irony lies in Russell's error of assigning metaphysical grandeur to logical truths, an error he could have avoided by more fully appreciating how logically misleading linguistic appearances can be.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2015 

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