Bertrand Russell was a British logician, nobleman, historian, social critic, philosopher, and mathematician. Known as one of the founders of analytic philosophy, Russell was considered the premier logician of the 20th century and widely admired and respected for his academic work. In his lifetime, Russell published dozens of books in wildly varying fields: philosophy, politics, logic, science, religion, and psychology, among which ’’The Principles of Mathematics’’ was one of the first published and remains one of the more widely known. Although remembered most prominently as a philosopher, he identified as a mathematician and a logician at heart, admitting in his own biography that his love of mathematics as a child kept him going through some of his darkest moments and gave him the will to live.
With his book ’’The Principles of Mathematics’’, Russell aims to instill the same deep seated passion for mathematics and logic that he has carefully cultivated in the reader. He adeptly explores mathematical problems in a logical context, and attempts to prove that the study of mathematics holds critical importance to philosophy and philosophers. Russell utilizes the text to explore the some of the most fundamental concepts of mathematics, and expounds on how these building blocks can easily be applied to philosophy. In the second part of the book, Bertrand addresses mathematicians directly, discussing arithmetic and geometry principles through the lens of logic, offering yet another unique and groundbreaking interpretation of a field long before considered static. This book affords new insight and application for many basic mathematical concepts, both in roots of and application to other fields of scholarly pursuit. Russell uses his book to establish a baseline of mathematical understanding and then expands upon that baseline to establish larger and more complex ideas about the world of mathematics and its connections to other fields of personal interest.
’’The Principles of Mathematics’’ is a very captivating glimpse into the logic and rational of one of history's greatest thinkers. Whether you're a mathematician at heart, a logician, or someone interested in the life and thoughts of Bertrand Russell, this book is for you. With an incredible amount of information on mathematics, philosophy, and logic, this text inspires the reader to learn more and discover the ways in which these very disparate fields can interconnect and create new possibilities at their intersections.