Reading guides like this will serve different purposes depending on the material we will be discussing. In the case of Russell, I’ll try to provide a rough outline of his lectures and suggest things to think about concerning the various parts of them.

Lecture I

• In thinking about Russell’s introduction (pp. 151-154), look for what he says about the nature of what he calls “analysis” and his justification for this as a way of doing philosophy. Also, you should begin to think about the idea of “logical atomism”; however, Russell may not say enough about it at this stage to make it very clear.

• You can think about much of the rest of the lecture (pp. 154-158) by coming to understand a series of distinctions Russell makes—(i) between facts and things (or “particulars”), (ii) between facts and propositions, and (iii) between propositions and names. Notice the roles played by the ideas of truth and falsity in making these distinctions.

Lecture II

You can think of this lecture as the presentation of a series of ideas. I’ve listed the key ones below. In most cases, the natural question to ask yourself is what Russell has to say about the idea and whether you understand him. But, of course, you should ask yourself whether you agree with him in cases where he states a claim rather than simply defining a term he will use.

• the analysis of facts rather than things (pp. 159-161)

• the complexity of propositions (pp. 161-164)

• two preliminary definitions and the relation between the complexity of propositions and the complexity of facts (pp. 164-165)

• a logically perfect language (p. 165)

• atomic facts and propositions (pp. 165-166)

• particulars and relations (p. 166)

• proper names (pp. 167-168)