Absolute Certainty: From Russell to Wittgenstein

The dream of absolute certainty, of truth with a capital T, has tantalized humanity for millennia. Some find it through dogmatic declaration, but a stubborn few have searched for it in its purest form by attempting to establish a solid philosophical foundation on which to rest certainty on. Perhaps no one is more famous for this attempt as Bertrand Russell in the 20th to 21st centuries. In the Principia Mathematica with Alfred North Whitehead, he attempted to establish all of mathematics as an outpouring from pure logic. In logical Atomism, he attempted to give an ontology which is linked to logic as a universal language capable of providing a ground for truth. During this time, Russell's doctoral student, Ludwig Wittgenstein, as part of his dissertation, gave his own attempt of establishing truth via a different version of Logical Atomism. Later in Wittgenstein's life, we see a complete rejection of this original dream with a philosophy which declares truth to be relative due to the limitations of language. Reflecting on this shift in thinking gives us clear insights into the progression from modern to postmodern thought in the history of western philosophy. In this lecture we will explore the history of analytic philosophy, focusing specifically on Russell and Wittgenstein, as we reflect on the role of language as a tool for establishing truth.

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This talk is part of the 🧠 NYC Philosophy & Psychology Readers Conference 2025 (#NYCPPRC2025).
For full event details—including venue, schedule, and attendance info—visit:
👉 https://www.meetup.com/reading-philosophy/events/308631821/
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