Wittgenstein's critique of the logicist definition of number in the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus"

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to present a coherent and exhaustive picture of Wittgenstein's critique of the logicist definition of number as presented by his philosophy of mathematics in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus . It does so by considering several critiques that Wittgenstein makes of the logicist's definition of number. Furthermore, this thesis compares Wittgenstein's operational definition of number---the central feature of Wittgenstein's theory---to Church's lambda calculus to demonstrate how Wittgenstein has a similar understanding of arithmetic.