Freges first use of the notion of the extension of a concept. In his mature period, frege speaks of the distinction between function and object in broadly metaphysical terms. Equality 1 gives rise to challenging questions which are not altogether easy to answer. Object x treats concepts and objects as being of the same underlying neutral ontological category. And, similarly, that an acceptable definition of the concept of number must contain a description that picks out precisely those objects that are numbersthose objects to which our numerals refer. So, if you want to be seduced to philosophy, then read the frege reader. Frege saw the formulae of mathematics as the paradigm of clear, unambiguous writing. Concept and object in frege university of limerick. If you keep your energy going, and do everything with a little flair, youre gunna stay young. Without the assumption that extensions are objects on the same level.
Frege, boolos, and logical objects the metaphysics research lab. The problem is that there are named which seem to refer to concepts for example, the concept horse. He uses the concept of sense to tackle a number of puzzles about direct reference. In the final year of his life, having accepted that his initial. A concept word whose concept was empty would then have to be excluded from science just like a proper name without a corresponding object. Gottlob frege 18481925 in general, then, the principle of identity substitution seems to take the following form, where s is a sentence, n and m are names, and s n differs from s m only by the fact that at least one occurrence of m replaces n. Thus the concept horse is not a concept, whereas the city of berlin is a city. Freges changing conception of number 147 a orded by geometrical and temporal sources is still a priori. Function and concept in which frege proposes that concepts the meanings of predicates should be thought of as functions. My attention was drawn to this fact through reading antony kennys recent book on frege. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel.
Indeed, julius caesar, the concept horse, the number of the planets, and johns living to 100 all may be spoken about, i. But most people do things without energy, and they atrophy their mind as well as their body. Yet, while frege writes a great deal about what criteria his definitions must satisfy, the. There has been a lot of work done on freges views on concepts, but there is a good deal of work still remaining to be done, it would appear. Freges theory of reference university of notre dame. In his book, logic, logic, and logic, george boolos quotes one of his professors. Tait there can be no doubt about the value of freges contributions to the philosophy of mathematics.
As frege suggests, the idea of a concept may be too logically pure to be fully defined, but its meaning becomes evident through its use in language. Pdf on jan 1, 2010, carlo proietti and others published the kerryfrege debate about object and concept. Programmers and dbas can also be seduced by reading frege. However, at the same time his approach has been the object of thoroughgoing critique, and freges philosophy of language can be said to begin with a rejection of what seem to be central features of lockes view morris 2007, p. That essay will therefore have to be at the center of our attention. It is clear that frege has more in mind by sense than just conceptual content mode of presentation.
The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong. Frege then defines an object a to be a cardinal number if there exists a concept f such that a is the begrkff belonging to f. According to frege, any sentence that expresses a singular thought consists of an expression a proper name or a general term plus the definite article that signifies an object together with a predicate the copula is, plus a general term accompanied. He worked as a mathematics professor at the university of jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philosophy, concentrating on the philosophy of language, logic, and mathematics. The book aims to be the best single edition available for introductory frege courses. On concept and object by gottlob frege first published in the vierteljahrsschrift fi4r wissenschaftliche philosophie, 16 1892. The professor said that the way to seduce good students to philosophy is to teach them russells and freges concept of number.
Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Pdf the kerryfrege debate about object and concept. The examination of how frege wields these two notions can therefore serve as an entry into his work as a whole. Pdf on jan 1, 1998, pavel materna and others published concepts and objects. Frege has discussed the distinction between concepts and objects most famously in the essay on concept and object of 1892. There is a sense in which, for frege, the foundations of the theory of reference are to be found in the theory of the references of proper names, and the view that the reference of a proper name is an object. However, in the present paper, we shall be focusing on those systems which try to reconstruct freges theory of logical objects by. But given that the crucial definitions of mathematical concepts were stated in terms of extensions, the inconsistency in basic law v undermined freges attempt to establish the thesis of logicism. Note that merely adding the is usually enough to turn a concept into an object, as in the sublime is an aesthetic category. In response frege allows that the subject term in each of kerrys two examples may indeed refer to a concept, but not in the logical sense with which he is concerned 1892b.
The strengths and weaknesses of freges critique of locke. Frege, logicism, number, extensions, functions, concepts, objects. On sense and reference gottlob frege as reprinted in a. Thus, although a division into two types of entity, concepts and objects, can be found in the foundations, it is plain that frege uses not one but two instantiation relations, falling under relating some objects to some concepts, and being in relating some concepts to some objects, and that both rela. But it was frege s identification of numbers with objects rather than concepts which supported the specific reasoning which led.
The proper name is one of the most striking feature of the theory of meaning which is roughly based on the notion 2 michael dummett, frege. I call anything a proper name if it is a sign for an object. Frege draws an important distinction between concepts on the basis of their level. This particular whale whom ive named ernie, ernie is an object. Frege used the word concept to refer to the sort of thing which is the reference of a predicate, and object to refer to the sort of thing which is the reference of a name. That is, it is the job of the sense of a name to fix on a. In the philosophy of languagethe distinction between concept and object is attributable to the german philosopher gottlob frege. But frege also regards the distinction between function and object as one that is central to logic, so much so that the very. Frege distinguished two truthvalues, the true and the false, which he took to be objects. Freges distinction leads to the famous difficulty or awkwardness of language that some expressions which purport to signify a concept freges example is the concept horse are grammatically expressions that by his criterion signify an object. Freges distinction between an object and a concept. Frege and the logic of sense and reference kevin c. He concludes that the concept horse must be both a concept and an object 1887.
Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. First level concepts have the value of true or false depending on whether the object falls under the concept. Given the questions to be answered, and the nature of freges overall philosophy, these concerns naturally evolved to take on the form of thinking about how frege would have developed a system of intensional logic for the theory of sinn and bedeutung. But despite appearances, there is no circularity, since frege analyzes the secondorder concept being a concept under which two objects fall without appealing to the concept two. In the philosophy of language, the distinction between concept and object is attributable to the german philosopher gottlob frege overview. First, he invented quantification theory and this was the first step toward making precise the notion of a purely logical deduction. On concept and object 169 at the outset than most of the chemical elements are. Freges essay on concept and object discusses concepts and relations. Freges conception of numbers as objects book, 1983. Freges denoting relation connecting an expression with. It is too convenient not to be used in introductory courses on frege. Objections to freges theories of sense and reference. According to frege, any sentence that expresses a singular thought consists frege, g. The definitions must not only preserve what we regard as the truths of presystematic arithmetic, they must also provide support for.
The concept being an author of principia mathematica falls under the concept being a concept under which two objects fall, which also involves the concept two. Given the questions to be answered, and the nature of frege s overall philosophy, these concerns naturally evolved to take on the form of thinking about how frege would have developed a system of intensional logic for the theory of sinn and bedeutung. The sense of a name, frege tells us, is not just a mode of presentation, but a mode of presenting a definite object. Freges theorem and foundations for arithmetic stanford. It is a well organized, reasonably priced onestop frege shop. The extension of a concept is something like the set of all objects that fall under the concept, for the extension records all of the objects that the concept maps to the true. Frege tells us that a firstlevel concept is a oneplace function that correlates objects with truthvalues 147.
1217 612 456 636 293 978 130 999 527 624 1053 918 707 750 399 818 1348 1353 1570 982 1428 1279 195 441 148 162 890 1058 657 1337 424 1398 1539 840 936 901 529 726 1160 1215 323 1408 188