BRACERS Record Detail for 54891
To access the original letter, email the Russell Archives.
Ms. in BR's hand consists of "Some Notes on Your Difficulties".
The difficulties lie in Bierich's reliance on ordinary language. "The point is that mathematical logic needs a new language...." The notes concern the symbolism of relations.
BR TO MARCUS BIERICH, 18 APR. 1948
BRACERS 54891. ALS(X). McMaster
Proofread by K. Blackwell
27 Dorset House,
Gloucester Place,
London N.W.1
18.4.48
Dear Mr. Bierich
I enclose some notes1 on your difficulties. I am somewhat impeded by not, at the moment, having the text you are using. I feel in reading you that you have been encouraged to think too much in terms of ordinary language. You talk of the opinion of philologists, but they have no right to have an opinion. The point is that mathematical logic needs a new language, and that translations into ordinary language are always more or less misleading.
You should practise getting rid of misleading ideas derived from common notions. Observe, e.g., that “wife” is a transitive relation.
I don’t know how much mathematical symbolism you have been taught.
Yours truly
Bertrand Russell.
- 1some notes Not transcribed here.
