In large part, these developments spawned from freges understanding that, in order to derive the postulates of arithmetic from the laws of logic, he. In particular, i see a way in which freges sense picks out only the most definite description of a name. Freges paper, on sense and reference, is widely considered the beginning of analytic philosophy. This book is an analysis of freges views on language metaphysics raised in on sense reference, arguably one of the most important philosophical essays of the past hundred years. Gottlob freges sense and reference linkedin slideshare. Sinn to accommodate difficulties in his early theory of meaning. The frege puzzle one more time the neofregean argument. Essays in the philosophy of language international library of philosophy1st edition by mark sainsbury author. Gottlob frege on sense and reference excerpt1 english translation of part of gottlob frege. While volume 2 of the grundgesetze was at the printers, he received on june 16, 1902, a letter from one of the few contemporaries who had read and admired his worksbertrand russell. Working on the borderline between philosophy and mathematicsviz. Sense now it is plausible to connect with a sign name, word combination, expression not only the designated object, which may be called the nominatum of the sign, but also the. Frege saw the formulae of mathematics as the paradigm of clear, unambiguous writing. Gottlob frege arguments of the philosophers by hans d.
In large part, these developments spawned from freges understanding that, in order to derive the postulates of arithmetic from the laws of logic, he would have to operate in a setting in which proofs could be. While conventional accounts of meaning took expressions to have just one feature reference, frege introduced the. In my understanding of freges theory, and his definition of the sense, i see a very elegant solution to many of the problems posed by the referential theory of meaning. Aug 24, 2019 the indirect reference of a word is accordingly its customary sense. Lebenwerkezeit, has more werke and zeit in it than leben. Citeseerx document details isaac councill, lee giles, pradeep teregowda. Frege and the logic of sense and reference by kevin klement. On sense and denotation 1892, the latter translated as on sense and reference, in translations ofthe philosophical writings of gottlob frege, and. According to frege, sense and reference are two different aspects of the significance of an expression. Locke referencesense idea reference is an object perceivable by the senses an internal image arising from the memories of sense impressions which i have had and acts, both internal and external which i have performed not saturated with feelings saturated with feelings. Sense and reference by gottlob frege 25 identity1 gives rise to challenging questions which are not altogether easy to answer. Friedrich ludwig gottlob frege 1848 1925 was a german mathematician, logician and philosopher, who helped found both modern mathematical logic and the beginnings of the analytic philosophy movement although his work was little known and poorly received during his lifetime, it has exerted a fundamental and farreaching influence on 20th century philosophy.
Russell does not think that freges distinction between sense and reference is. Gottlob frege by individual philosopher philosophy. Sense now it is plausible to connect with a sign name, word combination. Frege and the logic of sense and reference kevin c. Frege on sense and reference, the analytic tradition, class 3. Gottlob frege gottlob frege contradictions in freges system a worse disaster than neglect, however, was in store for him. Gottlob frege german mathematician and philosopher britannica. Freges puzzle about identity sentences as frege says at the outset of on. Gottlob frege, german mathematician and logician, who founded modern mathematical logic. Each of a, b, and c can be taken with either reading ofbedeutungyielding six principles. Such exceptions must always be borne in mind if the mode of connexion between sign, sense, and reference in particular cases is to be correctly understood. Gottlob frege 18481925 gottlob frege was a german logician, mathematician and philosopher who played a crucial role in the emergence of modern logic and analytic philosophy.
Jan 02, 2018 gottlob frege drew a distinction between the reference denotation, name and the sense meaning, concept of a word. So many and wideranging are the papers implications that philosophers are still talking about it today. This constitutes an essential difference between the idea and the signs sense, which may be the common property of many and therefore is not a part of a mode of. Frege on sense and reference ted sider phil language basic idea. Gottlob freges most popular book is the foundations of arithmetic. Gottlob frege in 20th century philosophy categorize this paper options edit this record. Meaning and information, gottlob freges sense and reference. As frege says at the outset of on sense and reference, identity gives rise to. Gottlob frege, born november 8, 1848, wismar, mecklenburgschwerindied july 26, 1925, bad kleinen, germany, german mathematician and logician, who founded modern mathematical logic. And when we call a sentence true we really mean its sense is. It, along with the rest of freges writings on logic and mathematics, came to mark out a whole new domain of inquiry.
Note that the jstor pdf is an older translation, but it is usable. Other relevant papers of freges are on concept and object jstor and function and concept. Sameness is misleading in stating the initial puzzle. Gottlob frege has 53 books on goodreads with 4224 ratings. Freges theory of reference university of notre dame.
For ease of reference, the original pagination is indicated in double square brackets. Gottlob frege german mathematician and philosopher. His father, alexander, a headmaster of a secondary school for girls, and his mother, auguste nee bialloblotzky, brought him up in the. Oct 14, 2019 frege saw the formulae of mathematics as the paradigm of clear, unambiguous writing.
This book is an analysis of frege s views on language metaphysics raised in on sense reference, arguably one of the most important philosophical essays of the past hundred years. According to the curriculum vitae that the 26year old frege filed in 1874 with his habilitationsschrift, he was born on november 8, 1848 in wismar, a town then in mecklenburgschwerin but now in mecklenburgvorpommern. Now i call the part of the content that is the same in both the conceptual content. The reasons which seem to favor this are the following. A relation between objects, or between names or signs of objects. Gottlob frege in 20th century philosophy categorize this paper options. If something has been dis covered that is simple, or at least must count as simple for the time being, we shall have to coin a term for it, since language will. In on sense and reference frege approaches the topic of how language connects with the world, beginning with the potent observation that reference is not the only way language has meaning. Statements of identity such as a a are established a priori, yet a b has a different cognitive value.
In this formal system, frege developed an analysis. Gottlob frege stanford encyclopedia of philosophy begrifrsschrift southern illinois university press, sense and reference in freges logic. In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an innovation or significance, but rendered by freges translators as reference, referent, meaning, nominatum, etc. Publication date 1892 usage attributionno derivative works 3. Freges reasons for thinking that a theory of reference must be. Long discussions of freges books and articles are interspersed with official documents. Frege was a german mathematician, logician, and philosopher. Unfortunately, the path is rugged and progress is slow. Sluga author frege s theory of sense and reference. But as a human being, he was a narrow man who left little mark. It provides a thorough introduction to the functionargument analysis and applies frege s technique to the central notions of predication, identity, existence and truth. Locke reference sense idea reference is an object perceivable by the senses an internal image arising from the memories of sense impressions which i have had and acts, both internal and external which i have performed not saturated with feelings saturated with feelings. On concept and object by gottlob frege first published in the vierteljahrsschrift fi4r wissenschaftliche philosophie, 16 1892.
Mark t extors book, frege on sense and reference, is published in the routledge philosophy guidebooks series, which is intended to painlessly introduce students to the classic works of. Its origin and scope modern european philosophy by wolfgang carl author departing from frege. Apr 23, 2019 if we consider the two claims such contexts can be referred to as oblique contexts, contexts in which the reference of an expression is shifted from its customary reference to its customary sense. Translations from the philosophical writings of gottlob frege.
The statements a b and a a can both refer to the same object both a and b referring to a red ball for instance, but have according to frege different. He is considert tae be ane o the foonders o modren logic an made major contreibutions tae the foondations o mathematics. On sense and reference wikisource, the free online library. Gottlob frege 18481925 is most celebrated today for his contributions to mathematical logic and the philosophy of language. The first section below considers why a philosophical investigation of language mattered at all for frege, the mathematician, and why it should have mattered to him. Frege essentially reconceived the discipline of logic by constructing a formal system which, in effect, constituted the first predicate calculus. Freges reasons for thinking that a theory of reference must be supplemented with a theory of sense. Freges puzzle about identity sentences as frege says at the outset of on sense and reference, identity gives rise to challenging. Gottlob frege drew a distinction between the reference denotation, name and the sense meaning, concept of a word. In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an innovation of the german philosopher and mathematician gottlob frege in 1892 in his paper on sense and reference. But few know that frege limited the sense to the everyday meaning. Some forms of influence 359 recognized that in the foundations ofarithmetic he had used bedeutung sometimes to mean what he later meant by bedeutung and sometimes to mean what he later meant by sinn. On sense and reference gottlob frege as reprinted in a.
Books by gottlob frege author of the foundations of arithmetic. The methodology of these essays is to take apparent uniformity and affirm a distinction. Jul 01, 2019 in the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an innovation or significance, but rendered by freges translators as reference, referent, meaning, nominatum, etc. Frege, gottlob internet encyclopedia of philosophy. His essay on sense and reference 1892 offered a philosophical account of linguistic meaning that broke new ground in sophistication and rigour, and it is still. The latter pointed out, modestly but correctly, the possibility of deriving a. 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. 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. It provides a thorough introduction to the functionargument analysis and applies freges technique to the central notions of predication, identity, existence and truth. Equality gives rise to challenging questions which are not altogether easy to answer. The reference of names and predicates there is a sense in which, for frege, the foundations of the theory of reference are to be. Frege examines the question of how the object which is designated by a sign is related to the meaning which is expressed by the sign. On sense and reference by gottlob frege, translated by max black.
Notes to gottlob frege stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. His book, entitled with a presumably unconsciously revealing use of hyphens, drawing attention, as they do, to the lack of connections between freges life, work and times gottlob frege. Freges mind was the most powerful motor in modern philosophy. The clarity of its separate parts remains the same the clarity of. Frege, on the other hand, develops a model where all statements, whether they be empirical, logical, or mathematical, are fashioned on one and the same basic pattern, namely, that of function and argument, supplemented by sense and reference. Freges antipsychologism the reference and sense of a sign are to be distinguished from the associated idea.
468 725 493 1017 314 720 733 319 776 114 223 1518 415 527 259 429 456 590 710 401 1499 188 575 541 1350 1089 1303 307 1175 832 968 1179 908 454 1128 733 1492 1057 1190