ABSTRACT
Bertrand Russell says, “The universe consists of objects having various qualities and standing in various relations”. Thus the universe may be described by a complex propositional function, or even propositionally described by a long conjunctive general sentence generated from a matrix, if the universe is finite. Determining the extent to which Russell’s 1914–21 constructions of minds and bodies maintain identity across possible worlds would be a matter of how strictly the constructions are defined across worlds in terms of constituent particulars. He says little about the qualities of negative facts and how they relate to the constituents of such facts. In fact, he says that the difference between positive and negative facts is “ultimate and irreducible”. For Russell, “Every complete sentence must contain at least one word which stands for a universal, since all verbs have a meaning which is universal”.
