A New Study On Russell’s Thoughts On Proposition

Proposition is an important term of logic and philosophy. The problem of proposition has been deeply concerned by philosophers and logicians since Aristotle first put forward the concept and gave an systematical exposition. Russell is one of the most important philosophers in the world and he added some new thinking to the researches of former philosophers and thus formed his particular thoughts about proposition. This paper is concentrated on Russell’s concepts and opinions on proposition, which are about to be summarized and then gives a brief remark and a preliminary rethinking. It is divided into three parts of this thesis.In the first part, we introduce the theoretical background of Russell’s thoughts on proposition is analyzed from two aspects. On one hand, it is necessary to learn the background of his thoughts on logic. And we will introduce three characteristics: analyticity, cognitive property and the philosophical reflectivity. On the other hand, we need to know the philosophical origins of his thoughts. As is known, Russell was deeply influenced by the theories about proposition of Aristotle and the stoics, by Frege’s view on "Gednake" as well as Wittgenstein’s theory of "language-picture".In the second part, the main contents of Russell’s thoughts on proposition are demonstrated elaborately and it focuses on Russell’s multiple theories about proposition. There are five aspects of it to be analyzed. Firstly, the view concerning the constructed proposition accounts for the structural elements of proposition and how they are constructed. Secondly, Russell gave an interpretation on how proposition is expressed and presented by virtue of sentences from the perspective of language. Thirdly, he expounded the idea that propositions rely on acquaintance to be understood and grasped from the perspective of cognition. Next, the correspondence theory of proposition discusses the problem about the correspondence and isomorphism between propositions and facts and describes the truth and falsity of proposition. Lastly, the idea of the content of belief points out the logical associations between proposition and belief and thus brings in the propositional attitudes. Above are the emphases and difficult points of Russell’s thoughts on proposition.In the third part, Russell’s thoughts on proposition are philosophically reconsidered. On one hand, Russell’s view on the constructed proposition has a direct influence on the main trend of today’s ideas on proposition. On the other hand, his correspondence theory has some shortages, such as the correspondence between propositions and facts can hardly been achieved in practice. What’s more, proposition obtains the new role as the content of belief for Russell associated proposition and belief. Above all, we have a rethinking and resurvey on Russell’s ideas and try to explore the profound significance and enlightenment conduced by which to today’s study on proposition. In the same sense, we aims at representing the value of Russell’s thoughts on proposition and the important role played by Russell in the history of European philosophy.