Background

Frank P. Ramsey was born on February 22, 1903, in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. He was a son of Arthur Stanley Ramsey, a mathematician and president of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Mary Agnes Stanley, who was active in politics and social issues.

Also, Frank had two sisters and one brother, Michael Ramsey, an Anglican bishop.

Education

Ramsey showed an aptitude for Mathematics at an early age. He demonstrated special skills in dealing with abstract problems, a promising beginning for one, who was to make his mark in Logic and Philosophy. Ramsey was educated first at home by his mother and then, in 1915, he enrolled at Winchester College and his excellent work there won him a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge.

At Trinity College, Frank studied Mathematics and John Maynard Keynes was one of his mentors there. In 1923, he graduated from the college with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first class honors. Moreover, Ramsey was named Senior Wrangler.

Career

In 1923, after graduation from Trinity College, Frank traveled briefly to Vienna and upon his return from the city in 1924, he was appointed a fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. Although, he never earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree, in 1926, Ramsey was promoted to the post of a lecturer in Mathematics at King’s College and was then made a director of studies in Mathematics at the same college. Frank held these posts until his untimely death. His lectures were popular among undergraduates not only because of his brilliance and clarity of presentation, but also because of his subtle humor and booming laugh.

Ramsey’s contributions to the field of Mathematics rest largely on two papers, that he published in 1925 and 1928. The first of these dealt with the efforts of Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell in "Principia Mathematica" to outline a comprehensive and logical foundation for all of Mathematics. Ramsey reinterpreted some of the fundamental premises of the Whitehead-Russell work, and he was able to do away with the axiom of reducibility, which Whitehead and Russell had been forced to use to deal with some basic contradictions, arising out of their theory of types, which concludes, that if classes belong to a particular type, and if they consist of homogenous members, then a class can not be a member of itself. Contemporaries, such as R. B. Braithwaite, considered Ramsey’s work in this area to be "almost the last word in the treatment of mathematics by this 'logical' school".

In 1927, Frank published an article, entitled "Facts and Propositions", in which he proposed a redundancy theory of truth. The following year, in 1928, Ramsey published a paper, addressing what was then the most important question, facing mathematical logicians, the so-called "Entscheidungs" problem. The focus of this problem was to find a method for determining the consistency of a logical formula. In his paper, Ramsey was able to solve this problem for a certain specified set of conditions: when the axioms, or generally accepted theories, consist of general laws.

John Maynard Keynes illuminated Ramsey’s early powers in Economics. Keynes describes how economists in Cambridge were accustomed to bringing their ideas to Ramsey for testing, while the young man was still only sixteen years old. Keynes wrote, that Ramsey possessed the ability to handle "the technical apparatus of our science with the easy grasp of one, accustomed to something far more difficult".

Ramsey’s actual contributions to economics were limited to only three published papers, but they were of extraordinary quality. These works were on subjective probability and utility (1926), optimal allocation (1927) and optimal one-sector economic growth (1928).

Frank's paper "A Mathematical Theory of Saving" was described by Keynes as "one of the most remarkable contributions to mathematical economics ever made, both in respect of the intrinsic importance and difficulty of the subject, the power and elegance of the employed technical methods and the clear purity of illumination".

Ramsey’s published work on Philosophy was slimmer, than that in Logic and Economics, consisting of a single important paper on universals in the journal "Mind". But his unpublished works were significant enough to cause R. B. Braithwaite to claim, that Ramsey’s death had "deprived the world of one of its most promising philosophers".

Achievements

• Frank P. Ramsey was a prominent scientist, who contributed to three fields: Mathematics (mathematical logic), Philosophy and Economics. He was best known for his criticisms of Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell's "Principia Mathematica". Ramsey showed, how to eliminate the axiom of reducibility, which they had introduced to deal with paradoxes, arising from their theory of types.
  
  Ramsey also published two studies in Economics, the last of which John Maynard Keynes described as "one of the most remarkable contributions to mathematical economics ever made".
  
  Ramsey's contributions to Philosophy were small, but significant, including the work on universals and scientific theories.
  
  Also, Frank originated Ramsey Theory and was pivotal in the translation of Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" into English.

Works

More photos

• book

  • On Truth: Original Manuscript Materials (1927-1929) from the Ramsey Collection at the University of Pittsburgh

    (The present publication forms part of a projected book, t...)

    1991
  • Philosophical Papers

    (This volume, with a new and extensive introduction by D. ...)

    1990
  • Notes on Philosophy, Probability and Mathematics

    (This work was edited by Maria Carla Galavotti.)

    1991
  • The Foundations of Mathematics and Other Logical Essays

    (This book was edited by R. B.Braithwaite and published af...)

    1931

Religion

Ramsey's wife described him as a "militant atheist". However, despite his atheism, Frank was quite tolerant towards his brother Michael Ramsey, when he decided to become a priest in the Church of England.

Views

Quotations: "I attach little importance to physical size. I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they can not think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does."

"Science, history and politics are not suited for discussion except by experts. Others are simply in the position of requiring more information; and, till they have acquired all available information, can not do anything, but accept on authority the opinions of those better qualified."

"Logic issues in tautologies, mathematics in identities, philosophy in definitions; all trivial, but all part of the vital work of clarifying and organising our thought."

"We are in the ordinary position of scientists of having to be content with piecemeal improvements: we can make several things clearer, but we cannot make anything clear."

"What we can't say we can't say, and we can't whistle it either."

"My picture of the world is drawn in perspective and not like a model to scale. The foreground is occupied by human beings and the stars are all as small as three-penny bits. I don't really believe in astronomy, except as a complicated description of part of the course of human and possibly animal sensation. I apply my perspective not merely to space but also to time. In time the world will cool and everything will die; but that is a long time off still and its present value at compound discount is almost nothing."

Membership

• member

  Cambridge Apostles , United Kingdom

  1921

Personality

Frank was a very talented man. From about his sixteenth year, he was consulted by theorists in Mathematics and other subjects, in which Mathematics is largely used.

Ramsey was a broad-minded person, who, besides his scientific work, had many other interests. He enjoyed reading classics and was fond of politics. Moreover, he had a good command of German, which he mastered in almost hardly over a week.

As a person, Frank was always straightforward and blunt in conversation and modest about his exceptional gifts.

Physical Characteristics: Ramsey was an intriguing and complex individual. He weighed nearly 240 pounds at the time of his death and claimed to take no displeasure in his size.

Connections

Ramsey married Lettice C. Baker, a photographer, in September, 1925. Their marriage produced two daughters.

Father:

Arthur Stanley Ramsey

Arthur was a mathematician and author of mathematics and physics textbooks.

Mother:

Mary Agnes Stanley

Wife:

Lettice C. Baker

Brother:

Michael Ramsey

Michael Ramsey was an English Anglican bishop and life peer.

Friend:

Geoffrey Pyke

Friend:

Margaret Pyke

Friend:

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a close friend of Ramsey.

References

• Frank Ramsey: Truth and Success "Frank Ramsey: Truth and Success" provides a much-needed introduction to the work of this undervalued thinker and makes an important and profound contribution to the understanding of Ramsey's work and his place in twentieth century philosophy.
  2001