This volume of Bertrand Russell's Collected Papers finds Russell focused on writing Principia Mathematica during 1905-08. Eight previously unpublished papers shed light on his different versions of a substitutional theory of logic, with its elimination of classes and relations, during 1905-06. A recurring issue for him was whether a type hierarchy had to be part of a substitutional theory. In mid-1907 he began writing up the final version of Principia, now using a ramified theory of types, and eleven unpublished drafts from 1907-08 deal with this. Numerous letters show his thoughts on the process. The volume's 80-page introduction covers the evolution of his logic from 1896 until 1909, when volume I of Principia went to the printer.

The two independent studies in this volume are: 1. Alan J. Hauser, Yahweh versus Death-The Real Struggle in 1 Kings 17-19. Hauser argues that although Yahweh emerges victorious in the famous match against Baal in ch. 18, it is Yahweh's struggle with death that gives 1 Kings 17-19 its literary shape and dynamic. 2. Russell Gregory, Irony and the Unmasking of Elijah. Gregory detects a fundamental irony in 1 Kings 17-19: Elijah, driven by his ambitions to clear the country of the prophets of Baal and to lead the people back to the worship of the one true god, appears to be a diligent and forceful prophet for Yahweh. And yet, his frenetic activity only veils his arrogance and his subversion of the prophetic task.>