artificial language

The question remains open whether such a result could be achieved merely by tinkering with a natural language, or whether it requires starting from scratch. The idea of starting from scratch, constructing an artificial language constrained only by the demands of logic, has inspired a philosophical tradition (though one whose merits are nowadays being questioned). Russell, for example, coined the expression "philosophical logic" to represent his view that the workings of natural language, and of our thought, could be adequately represented only by an artificial language, the language of his Principia Mathematica.