This essay addresses the historical role of women’s work in the foundations debate in mathematical logic at the University of Cambridge. Part I gives an overview of the philosophical culture of Cambridge in the interwar era, its significance for women post-graduates, and its vested interests in achievement. Part II assesses the contents of the American logician Alice Ambrose’s post-graduate publications on the foundations debate, her teacher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s denunciation of her work, and Bertrand Russell’s subsequent critique of Ambrose’s remarks on (...) the grammar of mathematical expression. At the center of this investigation is a portrait of Ambrose’s contributions to the Cambridge school of analysis and the elite capture of her ingenuity in elaborating Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. In recovering the historical context of this moment, the essay highlights those oblong dimensions of sociality in the English ancient university that warped women’s position as students and commentators in mathematical logic, giving shape to their later perspectives as late-twentieth-century professional philosophers. (shrink)

on december 29, 1975, alice ambrose presented her presidential address, "Commanding a Clear View of Philosophy," before the seventy-second annual meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in New York. The sixty-nine-year-old logician sought to demonstrate to those in attendance the state of philosophy in the United States. In surveying the present condition of American discussions in logic, language, and mind, Ambrose offered what she referred to as "reminders" of where philosophy as a vocation ought to go. (...) Such a topic stemmed not only from Ambrose's life long engagement with the teaching of philosophy as Sophia & Austin Smith Professor of Philosophy at Smith College but also her... (shrink)

Volume 30, Issue 6, December 2022, Page 1144-1146.