Bertrand Russell and the Edwardian Philosophers: Constructing the World

This book demonstrates the influence of an Edwardian 'Controversy' on Russell's philosophy of the external world. It brings to our attention a debate that raged amongst Edwardian philosophers on issues of central significance to analytic philosophy before Bertrand Russell entered the discussion. In explaining this Edwardian 'Controversy', Omar Nasim combines meticulous scholarly detail with accessibility to argue that the formation of the original strands of 'realism' in British philosophy, usually credited to only Russell and Moore, can in fact be linked also to a group of Edwardian philosophers that included G.F. Stout and Sir T.P. Nunn. The author re-examines the history of well-known notions like 'sense-data' and 'sensibilia', and makes a case for understanding Russell's appeal for the application of 'logical constructions', at first only used as a device in mathematical logic, to the problem of the external world. This switch in the application of logical construction is seen as the rise of a new philosophical method. This book will not only shed light on the relevant doctrines of some of the Edwardian philosophers, but will also demonstrate the considerable role they played in the history of early analytic philosophy.