The Analysis of Matter is the product of thirty years of thinking by
one of the twentieth century's best-known philosophers. An inquiry into
the philosophical foundations of physics, it was written against the
background of stunning new developments in physics earlier in the
century, above all relativity, as well as the excitement around quantum
theory, which was just being developed.
Concerned to place physics on a stable footing at a time of great
theoretical change, Russell argues that the concept of matter itself can
be replaced by a logical construction whose basic foundations are
events. He is careful to point out that this does not prove that matter
does not exist, but it does show that physicists can get on with their
work without assuming that matter does exist. Russell argues that
fundamental bits of ''matter'', such as electrons and protons, are
simply groups of events connected in a certain way and their properties
are all that are required for physics.
This Routledge Classics edition includes the 1992 Introduction by John
G. Slater.