Bertrand Russell on Modality and Logical Relevance

SECOND EDITION: "Looks like a seminal work." -Paul C. Nascimbene. "Impressive." - Panayot Butchvarov. "It shows originality and great care." -J. Michael Dunn. PUBLISHED REVIEW OF THE SECOND EDITION: "In the scope of more than six hundred pages, Dejnozka brought to light many aspects of Russell's philosophy which, implicitly or explicitly, record Russell's interest in modal matters. Dejnozka's strategy is quite straightforward: to gather together relevant quotations including modal notions and, consequently, interpret them in a systematic and 'Russell friendly' way. [S]uch a comprehensive overview is unique and of interest [to] a wider group of philosophers.... Bertrand Russell on Modality and Logical Relevance is literally a full-length study of Russell's views on modality. It does both, highlight the 'modality bearing' passages in which Russell implicitly or explicitly comments on the problems of modality, and interprets them in a spirit of the overall unity, systematicity and Russell's ingenuity. [I]t is always a hard and risky enterprise to find... important, although to...date ignored, features in the life works of the most influential philosophers of [the] 20th century. But Dejnozka's book does present one such enterprise and as such is a stimulative and worthy contribution to (the history) of philosophy." Martin Vacek, Organon F. PUBLISHED REVIEW OF THE FIRST EDITION: "Dejnozka's book is the first full-length study of modality in Russell. It is useful for its very full survey of passages in which Russell makes use of or alludes to modal notions. Dejnozka's command of Russell's huge output is indeed impressive and his utilization of it thorough...." - Nicholas Griffin, Studia Logica. PUBLISHED REVIEW OF THE FIRST EDITION: "Dejnozka's book raises a very important point in the history of formal logic. Until now the major studies on this topic have drawn heavily on the development of classical logic as standardized by Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell. Dejnozka challenges the reader to open his mind for a new interpretation of Russell's work, in particular that modal and relevance notions have a greater place in his philosophy of logic than has been stressed before.... Dejnozka rightly observes that many of Russell's insights on modality are a result of his discussions with Hugh MacColl, who was indeed the first to seriously attempt to develop formal modal logic. This particularly applies to Russell's conception of a modal logic without modal operators.... That is, classical logic can be used to simulate modal expressions. Thus, the notions of (logical) necessity and possibility are not 'fundamental notions'.... On this basis, Dejnozka develops a higher level of modality, where the quantification scope extends to the predicates yielding what Russell calls 'fully general propositions'.... The best studied translation method is known as the standard translation, and it is quite compatible with Dejnozka's suggestions.... Dejnozka's book is full of material which stimulates [one] to rethink Russell's philosophy of logic and...it is greatly to the author's credit that he brings to light such a wealth of crucial issues in the history and philosophy of logic." - Shahid Rahman, History and Philosophy of Logic.