  In this work we consider the topological analysis of symbolic formal systems
in the framework of network theory. In particular we analyse the network
extracted by Principia Mathematica of B. Russell and A.N. Whitehead, where the
vertices are the statements and two statements are connected with a directed
link if one statement is used to demonstrate the other one. We compare the
obtained network with other directed acyclic graphs, such as a scientific
citation network and a stochastic model. We also introduce a novel topological
ordering for directed acyclic graphs and we discuss its properties in respect
to the classical one. The main result is the observation that formal systems of
knowledge topologically behave similarly to self-organised systems.
