Bertrand Russell and the Global Reception of Analytic Philosophy

This book provides the first exploration of a new field of study, that of the global reception of analytic philosophy. Its aim is to understand how Russell's program of logical analysis of philosophy was received, interpreted and transformed during the interwar period in different geographical and cultural areas. Russell's idea was that the new mathematical logic could provide definitive solutions to traditional philosophical problems. But which problems and from which traditions?

Based on three case studies (the works of Norbert Wiener, Jean Nicod and Feng Youlan), this book shows how Russellian logical analysis becomes transformed through contact with three philosophical configurations (pragmatism in the US, Bergsonism in France and new Confucianism in China).

The book describes in detail the changes introduced into Russellian logical analysis by authors who applied it to philosophical problems and traditions that Russell was unfamiliar with. The logical method is seen to adjust to the culturally determined material it encounters. That there is this adjustment raises the delicate and intriguing question of whether logical analysis (and/or logic) depends on variable cultural traits. This issue is addressed in the book's general conclusion.

Bertrand Russell and the Global Reception of Analytic Philosophy is essential reading for all scholars, researchers and advanced students of the history of analytic philosophy and especially the reception of analytic philosophy in different countries and cultures.

Compares early analytic philosophy with other traditions by studying its reception in the US, France and China Considers how mathematical logic benefited from contact with philosophical traditions such as pragmatism and Bergsonism Encompasses the Chinese reception of analytic philosophy

Autorentext

Sébastien Gandon is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Clermont Auvergne, an alumnus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la Rue d'Ulm, and an agrégé in philosophy. He researches the history of analytic philosophy and the history and philosophy of logic and mathematics. He has sole authored two books, the first (in French) on Wittgenstein's Tractatus and the second, published by Palgrave Macmillan, on the mathematical background to Russellian logicism.

Inhalt

1: Introduction: the plural receptions of analytic philosophy.- 2: Norbert Wiener. Relativism, construction, statistics.- 3: Jean Nicod. Space, construction, aspects.- 4: Feng as a historian. Confucianism, logic and the realism of universals.- 5: Feng as a philosopher. Metaphysics, logic and the negative method.- 6: Conclusion: universality of logic and cultural differences.