When we ask for the meaning of a statement we are talking about language, and are using a metalanguage; and when we ask for the meaning of “meaning” we are using a metametalanguage, so it is not surprising that the question is difficult to …integer, for example, “3” can be defined as the class of all classes “similar” to the class consisting of the words “Newton,” “Gauss,” and “Bardot.”) The point of this representation is that it makes reference to linguistic operations alone…The difficulty of making the probability estimates [48] provides some
of the explanation of why men are not entirely rational in their proba-
bility estimates and in their recall. It is possible, for example, that, for
men, the probability …
Bertrand Russell
philosopher · 8 mentions across 5 readings
In this course
Russell's foundational work on type theory and logical hierarchy appears in these readings as a solution to self-referential paradoxes that emerge when systems try to reason about themselves—a problem directly relevant to how artificial systems handle metalanguage and recursive classification. The excerpts invoke his framework to show why formal systems need hierarchical typing constraints: without them, you hit the barber paradox (the beautician who shaves all those who don't shave themselves) or infinite regresses of meaning-about-meaning. For a course on cybernetic systems and AI, Russell provides the logical scaffolding that prevents the feedback loops and contradictions endemic to self-aware machines and language models attempting to model their own operations.
Mentioned in 5 readings
(2) Consider next an example of an ill-typed variable. Suppose we are interested in the roles played by people in some community; we could not introduce an observable standing for those beauticians who depilate just those people who do not …Russell, B. (1902). Letter to Frege. In J. van Heijenoort (Ed.), From frege to gödel: A source book in mathematical logic, 1879–1931 (pp. 124–125). Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1967.
Salthe, S. N. (1985). Evolving hierarchical s…
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