ABSTRACT
In this address, no attempt to deal with any problem of symbolic technique will be made, for even if a problem of this kind should be found that was suitable to the present occasion, I should probably lack sufficient competence in the handling of symbols to deal with it satisfactorily. It occurred to me, however, that it might be interesting to consider the nature of symbols in general, to point out certain characteristics peculiar to the symbols used by logicians and mathematicians, and to say something concerning the relations of these symbols to the knowledge of Nature. Although developments in the science of logic are not dependent on such an inquiry, it yet provides us with a perspective on the nature and importance of that science which we cannot gain so long as we attend only to the problems arising inside its field.
