PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA. Three Volumes.

Cambridge Mathematical Library

by Alfred North and Russell Whitehead

The great three-volume Principia Mathematica (CUP 1927) is deservedly the most famous work ever written on the foundations of mathematics. Its aim is to deduce all the fundamental propositions of logic and mathematics from a small number of logical premises and primitive ideas, establishing that mathematics is a development of logic. This abridged text of Volume I contains the material that is most relevant to an introductory study of logic and the philosophy of mathematics (more advanced students will of course wish to refer to the complete edition). It contains the whole of the preliminary sections (which present the authors' justification of the philosophical standpoint adopted at the outset of their work); the whole of Part I (in which the logical properties of propositions, propositional functions, classes and relations are established); section A of Part II (dealing with unit classes and couples); and Appendices A and C (which give further developments of the argument on the theory of deduction and truth functions).

Genres: Philosophy, Mathematics, Science, Nonfiction, Logic, Classics, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1913

Reviews

[Manny]

Rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb: rhubarb rhubarb
- Rhubarb

Rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb? Rhubarb rhubarb. Rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb? Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb: rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb. Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb - rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb - rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.

Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb, Rhubarb Rhubarb rhubarb. Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb:

- Rhubarb: rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb.

- Rhubarb: rhubarb (rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb) rhubarb.

- Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb: rhubarb/rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.

Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb; rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb. Rhubarb rhubarb... rhubarb rhubarb.

[Justin Yeary · Rating 1 out of 5]

My favorite part was where they took about 50 pages to prove that 1+1=2

[G.R. Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I'm tired and depressed, I often spend half an hour flicking through this and underlining the mistakes. It never fails to cheer me up.

[David]

Did you just ask me to rate Principia Mathematica out of five stars? Go fuck yourself.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

unreadable jargon=drenched masturbatory circle jerk. who do these guys think they are making up words ; and then there's the target audience, a bunch of snobbish pocket=protector wearing "geniuses". I'm calling emperor's new clothes on this one!!


____________________
Where CNP C. steps boldly onto the scene


Rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb: rhubarb rhubarb [fruit or vegetable?]

Despite its title, this is NOT a math book, at least in the conventional definition of the term. [read : "conventional definition"]

...and underlining the mistakes. [in red or blue?]

...they took about 50 pages to prove that 1+1=2 [so you know now better the meaning of 'prove'?]

Read "On Denoting" [Will do! thanks!]

Sir Isaac Newton was undoubtedly one of the geniuses of our universe!! [Simon says :: The state of cataloguing and reviewing of this masterpiece on GR is pitiful! which is a true statement]

Bertrand Russell has always given me a bit of a headache. [hunh.]

has anybody read this?? {Guy name of Kurt Gödel }

[Asim Bakhshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed it for a great reference it is. Some amazing insights nowhere to be found in modern textbooks.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video on Russell Paradox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xauCQ...

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the drone you're looking for.

Russell and Whitehead were responding to a challenge to run through all of mathematics using the same notation - something that people assumed could be done, but no one had the time to do it. Principia Mathematica ballooned into a book that is too large and dense for anyone to actually read. Worse than that, Goedel came along a few years later and proved that the book was also too short to actually accomplish what it set out to do. You're probably better off reading Russel's "Principals of Mathematics" if you're looking to understand the foundations of mathematics.

This edition is only the first 56 chapters, that Cambridge University Press is trying to sell as an introduction to logic. It wasn't written in an accessible style to be that, and it uses its own peculiar notation to boot. You should find a book on set theory or introductory logic if that's what you're looking for.

[Bertrand Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The mark of a civilized human is the ability to look at a column of numbers, and weep."

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's probably the most accessible way to read it, and not as difficult as one might think.

I once bought a huge stack of used Dover books cheap, and the guy tried to sell me the Principia Mathematica along with it... it was slightly faint with the typesetting, but for 40% off i decided sure i'll take the 3 volume monster home

I bought Principia Mathematical to *56 the same day with it...

I would probably recommend
Morris Kline - Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty (Oxford 1980)
as the best book on Mathematical Philosophy around to go with Principia to *56

Some disagree with Kline, but i think it was one of his finest books

[Fadi · Rating 1 out of 5]

"It is to be regretted that this first comprehensive and thorough-going presentation of a mathematical logic and the derivation of mathematics from it [is?] so greatly lacking in formal precision in the foundations (contained in *1–*21 of Principia) that it presents in this respect a considerable step backwards as compared with Frege. What is missing, above all, is a precise statement of the syntax of the formalism."

~Kurt Gödel, 1944.

[Reinhard Gobrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das Buch von Whitehead und Russell beschreibt wichtige logische Gesichtspunkte, die auch in der Philosophie eine große Rolle spielen. Ein ganz wichtiger zentraler Punkt des Buches ist das sogenannte Zirkelfehlerprinzip. Es hilft Paradoxien zu vermeiden, z.B. die 'Universalmenge' oder das 'Argument vom dritten Menschen', da es sogenannte 'illegetime Gesamtheiten' enttarnt.

[Keith]

That's "read" in the loosest sense of the word. I looked at many if not most of the pages here, even after I lost all sense of what the notations meant. Upshot is, if you're looking for someone to explain why 1 + 1 = 2, I'm afraid I'm (still) not your guy.

[Michael Ogundipe]

One of the most powerful work ever done. Sir Isaac Newton was undoubtedly one of the geniuses of our universe!!

[Ronald Alexander]

The book that guided my life as a Mathematician

[eesenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitehead and Russell develop the logical structure of Mathematics.