Saeedeh Shahmir
Abstract
One of the goals, or perhaps the most important goal of Bertrand Russell’s prominent attempts in his philosophical and logical works was to establish a sort of Ideal or Perfect Language in order to be used to deal with the varieties of complexities, ambiguities, and paradoxes which in one way or ...
Read More
One of the goals, or perhaps the most important goal of Bertrand Russell’s prominent attempts in his philosophical and logical works was to establish a sort of Ideal or Perfect Language in order to be used to deal with the varieties of complexities, ambiguities, and paradoxes which in one way or another appear in natural languages. Such a project is built on the central notion, or better methodology, of Logical Analysis. Russell by using his logical analysis can distinguish between (genuine proper) names and definite descriptions, which further helps him to cope with three main problems: informativeness of identity claims, negative existentials, and non-existents, that is, those expressions which have no reference whatsoever. In this paper, I will introduce and explain Russell’s view in two parts: The Conceptual Aspect of his analysis, which involves the definition of logical analysis, and the Extensional Aspect, which brings in his famous Theory of Descriptions.
Saeedeh Shahmir
Abstract
In this paper,, I will first introduce the ontological view of Wittgenstein as it appears in the Tractatus. He starts his ontological discussion with the discussion of facts, which he then clarified by appealing to the notions of state of affairs and simple objects. I will then discuss his semantic view, ...
Read More
In this paper,, I will first introduce the ontological view of Wittgenstein as it appears in the Tractatus. He starts his ontological discussion with the discussion of facts, which he then clarified by appealing to the notions of state of affairs and simple objects. I will then discuss his semantic view, which is based on his Picture Theory of Language, which brings in the notion of propositions. In such an analysis, he appeals to the notion of basic or elementary propositions and names. In his view, there is an isomorphic relationship (actually correspondence) between the logical structure of language (and its mental counterpart, thought) and the world. It is only in such a relation which a proposition can gain any meaning, or Sense. In this paper, I will investigate the relationship between the early Wittgenstein's ontological and semantic views and the way these views are related to other basic logical ideas in the Tractatus.
