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Full Idea
'The number one is bald' or 'the number one is fond of cream cheese' are, I maintain, not merely silly remarks, but totally devoid of meaning.
Gist of Idea
'The number one is bald' or 'the number one is fond of cream cheese' are meaningless
Source
Bertrand Russell (Substitutional Classes and Relations [1906], p.166)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Essays in Analysis', ed/tr. Lackey,Douglas [George Braziller 1973], p.166
A Reaction
He connects this to paradoxes in set theory, such as the assertion that 'the class of human beings is a human being' (which is the fallacy of composition).
Related Idea
Idea 21547 On Meinong's principles 'the existent round square' has to exist [Russell]
| 18130 | Axiom of Reducibility: there is always a function of the lowest possible order in a given level [Russell, by Bostock] |
| 21560 | Any linguistic expression may lack meaning when taken out of context [Russell] |
| 21561 | 'The number one is bald' or 'the number one is fond of cream cheese' are meaningless [Russell] |
| 21562 | There is no complexity without relations, so no propositions, and no truth [Russell] |