Introduction to G.E. Moore's Unpublished Review of <em>The Principles of Mathematics</em>

Abstract

Several interesting themes emerge from G. E. Moore’s previously unpub­lished review of The Principles of Mathematics. These include a worry concerning whether mathematical notions are identical to purely logical ones, even if coextensive logical ones exist. Another involves a conception of infinity based on endless series neglected in the Principles but arguably involved in Zeno’s paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise. Moore also questions the scope of Russell’s notion of material implication, and other aspects of Russell’s claim that mathematics reduces to logic.