Bertrand Russell · Mathematics
Russell’s 1905 analysis in ‘On Denoting’ - how a sentence like ‘the present King of France is bald’ can be meaningful and false even though there is no King of France, by treating definite descriptions not as names but as disguised logical claims about existence and uniqueness.
You learned that Russell analysed ‘the F is G’ as three combined claims - there is at least one F, at most one F, and it is G - so that definite descriptions are not names and empty ones make sentences false rather than meaningless. Explain the analysis and the puzzles it solves.
Leads to Immanuel Kant.
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