Guide to the Frank Plumpton Ramsey Papers, 1920-1930 ASP.1983.01
Arrangement
Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Frank Plumpton Ramsey Papers
Creator
Ramsey, Frank Plumpton
Collection Number
ASP.1983.01
Extent
3.75 Linear Feet(8 manuscript boxes)
Date
1920-1930
Abstract
This is a collection of autograph manuscripts documenting the philosophical work of Frank Plumpton Ramsey between the years 1920 and 1930. F.P. Ramsey was one of the most important British analytic philosophers of the twentieth century. During his career he worked in the areas of philosophy of mathematics, symbolic logic, epistemology, economics, and probability theory. The collection contains drafts of Ramsey's papers, including drafts of two of the most important and influential of Ramsey's works, The Foundations of Mathematics and On a Problem of Formal Logic. There are notes on the Tractatus of L. Wittgenstein. There are also papers, notes, and drafts of works on topics in philosophy of mathematics, formal logic, economics, and political theory. Some of Ramsey's undergraduate essays are also found in the collection. Digital reproductions of this collection are available online.
Language
English
.
Author
Curators and staff of the Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process on December 10, 2004 and January 10, 2006. Grateful acknowledgement of assistance by James Glover for several corrections and improvements to the finding aid, 2024.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives & Special Collections Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman) Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Biography
Frank Plumpton Ramsey was born in 1903 in Cambridge, England, and died in 1930 in London, England. Ramsey was one of England's foremost philosophers in the Anglo-American analytic tradition. He was educated first at Winchester, one of England's leading public schools, then at Trinity College of Cambridge University. At Trinity he was a protégé of John Maynard Keynes, and a member of the important Cambridge discussion group, the Apostles. Ramsey received a bachelor's degree in Mathematics with first class honors from Cambridge in 1923. He was a mathematician, philosopher, and economist who was associated with Cambridge University in England throughout his entire professional career. He was interested in and contributed significantly to philosophical problems in epistemology, probability, symbolic logic, the foundations of mathematics, and economics. He was a colleague of Bertrand Russell, John Maynard Keynes and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Despite his short life and short professional career he is one of the leading British philosophers of the twentieth century.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
The collection was acquired in 1983 from a London dealer in rare books and manuscripts, Bernard Quaritch, Ltd.
A copy of a speech given by Ramsey to the Apostles was donated by Professor Nicholas Rescher in November 2004. The original is held by the King's College Archive Centre, Cambridge.
Previous Citation
Frank Plumpton Ramsey Papers, 1920-1930, ASP.1983.01, Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh
Preferred Citation
Frank Plumpton Ramsey Papers, 1920-1930, ASP.1983.01, Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by curators and staff of the Archives of Scientific Philosophy, Special Collections, in 1984. The guide to this collection was written by Lance Lugar, Curator of the Archives of Scientific Philosophy, in 2004.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Dan Horvath on December 10, 2004 and Charles Stanford on January 10, 2006. Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 4533236
Copyright
Any requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce materials from this collection must be submitted in writing to the Assistant University Librarian for Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital reproductions of this collection are available online.
Scope and Content Notes
This is a collection of autograph manuscripts, notes, and drafts of Ramsey's work in mathematics, philosophy, and economics. It contains drafts of several undergraduate papers and the manuscript of several chapters of an unpublished book on the relationship of logic and epistemology. Early versions of two of Ramsey's most significant papers - Universals, 1925, and The Foundations of Mathematics, 1925 are found within the collection. There are papers giving Ramsey's outline of the Tractatus of Wittgenstein, and notes on the concept of infinity that are in Ramsey's hand but which may have been dictated to him by Wittgenstein. Relatively few of the documents are dated. Class notes and papers given to the Apostles are also included in the collection.
Ramsey's manner of organizing his material is not known nor are dates included for most of the documents, however, the material begins with his arrival at Cambridge and runs until his death, hence it all falls between 1920 and 1930. The papers have been kept in the order in which they were received. This guide attempts to provide information on the material based on this organization, due to the number of scholarly publications that have previously been published using this order.
The materials are arranged into eight series organized by topic or subject of philosophical concern. Because of the overlap within series the researcher should be sure to consult the entirety of the collection to ensure that they view all relevant documents. Additional scope and content notes are provided at the series levels.
Arrangement
Series I. The nature of truth - manuscript notes
Series II. General notes on philosophy and philosophy of science
Series III. Notes on various topics including Mathematics and Psychology
Series IV. Outlines, notes, and drafts of articles
Series V. Notes and materials on Mathematics and Mathematical Logic
Series VI. Materials from Ramsey's undergraduate work
Series VII. Undergraduate notebooks and commentaries on Wittgenstein
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