Frege's contribution to philosophy of language pdf

Philosophy of language chapter one the logical study of language 7 1. Donald davidson made a number of important contributions to philosophy of logic, language, and mind, and in this chapter some of them are presented. Freges argument about the sense and reference of a sentence. Communication is commonly said to be at the crossroads of many disciplines. Working on the borderline between philosophy and mathematicsviz. Psychologism is a natural outgrowth of a thoroughgoing empiricism or naturalism that reduces all questions to empirical questions, questions of natural science. Frege s contribution to philosophy of language with robert may in e. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. There are two common reactions to frege s claim that some senses and thoughts are private. Pdf freges contribution to philosophy of language researchgate. For instance, the view that he developed in on sense and reference, the moststudied essay in the philosophy of language, dominated twentiethcentury work in. Pdf freges unthinkable thoughts lukas skiba academia.

Freges work has gone on to influence contemporary work across a broad spectrum, including the philosophy of mathematics and logic, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind. Freges theory of reference university of notre dame. An investigation of freges various contributions to the study of language, focusing on three of his most famous doctrines. Freges main contribution to philosophy spans philosophical logic, the theory of meaning, mathematical logic and the philosophy of mathematics. Freges logical works were revolutionary, and are often taken to represent the fundamental break between contemporary approaches and the older, aristotelian tradition. Its origin and scope modern european philosophy by wolfgang carl author departing from frege. Freges contribution to philosophy of language semantic scholar. These papers, unlike most of frege s writings, seem to be straightforwardly about language. But this comment does place a burden on the reader who takes a contribution to. Alexander miller is professor of philosophy at the university of birmingham, uk. Davidsons contribution to the philosophy of language. This article discusses freges apparently metaphysical doctrine that concepts are unsaturated. Gottlob frege german mathematician and philosopher britannica. These two principles are immediately linked to the context principle, which is central to freges project.

Frege, russell and wittgenstein were founders although not by any means the sole founders of the analytic tradition in philosophy. It resolved the many tensions that lingered in frege s and russell s work, marking an end to the early period of analytic philosophy. Begriffsschrift german for, roughly, conceptscript is a book on logic by gottlob frege, published in 1879, and the formal system set out in that book. There are distinct things x and y that fall under the concept f and anything else that falls under the concept f is identical to either x or y. Gottlob frege was neither a linguist nor a philosopher. No one has figured more prominently in the study of german philosopher gottlob frege than michael dummett. This idea has inspired research in the field for over a century and we discuss it in what follows. While pursuing his investigations into mathematics and logic and quite possibly, in order to ground those investigations, frege was led to develop a philosophy of language. See heck and may for further discussion of freges contribution to the philosophy of language. See heck and may 2006 for further discussion of freges contribution to the philosophy of language.

Frege and russell were concerned with the semantic as well as syntactic aspect of language. This engaging and accessible introduction to the philosophy of language is an unrivalled guide to one of the liveliest and most challenging areas of philosophy and the new edition captures the vibrant energy of current debate. First, he argued persuasively that there can be only finitely many primitives in a language, otherwise the language could not be learned by a finite being. So, for example, an e language sentence is a string of words contrary to our ordinary notion of a sentence, whereas an i language sentence is a particular syntactic structure, not identifiable with a string of words. Frege is best known for three significant contributions to philosophy. The sentence is the smallest unit of language which can be used to say anything at all. The interpretation of frege s philosophy dummett, michael on. Philosophy of language philosophy of language freges revolution. The direct sense of a sentence is the stand alone meaning of the sentence, i. Freges theorem and foundations for arithmetic first published wed jun 10, 1998. Gottlob frege german mathematician and philosopher.

This paper outline a brief philosophical way of the nature of human language, from plato 427347 bc to portroyal grammar. According to the context principle, the basic unit of sense is the proposition, or sentence. Gottlob frege arguments of the philosophers by hans d. Philosophy of communication combines two ambiguous disciplines, philosophy and communication. 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. In the preface to tractatus logicophilosophicus, ludwig wittgenstein acknowledges his debt to the great works of gottlob frege. Our plan for the remainder of the paper is as follows. The poverty of philosophy as a science throughout its history philosophy has been thought to be a member of a community of intellectual disciplines united by their common pursuit of knowledge. This article describes wittgenstein and freges personal relationship and examines how much we know.

In freges time, psychologism was exemplified by the empiricism of john stuart mill. Gottlob frege 18481925 is most celebrated today for his contributions to. Freges theorem and foundations for arithmetic stanford. The extension of a concept f records just those objects which f maps to the true. Aug 25, 2019 it is a theorem of logic that nothing falls under this concept. Their principal contribution, indeed, could be regarded as being in the opposite direction. They resist analysis in terms of their contribution to truthconditions, but carry implications for the discourses in which they occur, with 5 involving some presumptive contrast with what might have been expected and 6, as. Introduction gottlob freges impacts on the philosophy of language are so fundamental and numerous so that it is difficult to fathom a field without them. The book clearly explains and assesses freges work in. Plato 427347 bc and aristotle 384322 bc present the question of. Frege, kant, and the logic in logicism 27 would have been open to kant to claim that freges begriffsschrift is not a proper logic at all, but a kind of abstract combinatorics, and that the meaning of the iterated quantifiers can only be grasped through construction in pure intuition. Frege, gottlob internet encyclopedia of philosophy.

Truth and meaning it is conceded by most philosophers of language, and recently even by some linguists, that a satisfactory theory of meaning must give an account of how the meanings of sentences depend upon the meanings of words. International library of the philosophy of education bibliography. Lecture notes introduction to philosophy of language. Find materials for this course in the pages linked along the left. Begriffsschrift is usually translated as concept writing or concept notation.

Josef seifert and giovanni reale in what is philosophy. Freges contribution to philosophy of language oxford. We also take up what is problematic in the issue of translation from culture to culture, from indigenous language to metropolitan language, and from oral to written discourse. There are two common reactions to freges claim that some senses and thoughts are private. According to locke, ideas exist independently of words, which serve merely as their vehicles. Even if we ignore the apparent blunders, the view that on sense and meaning is meant as a contribution to a philosophical account of language does not entirely. This new book offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to freges remarkable philosophical work, examining the main areas of his writings and demonstrating the connections between them. Nevertheless, given the expository purposes of this article, thats mostly what i will do. An i language is at least what a grammar that met our second, higher goal, would say it is. Freges response to this objection is to distinguish between the direct sense and the indirect sense of a sentence. The present volume investigates the legacy of gottlob frege, bertrand russell and ludwig wittgenstein in contemporary philosophy of language and linguistics.

Gottlob frege, german mathematician and logician, who founded modern mathematical logic. Freges most important contribution to the philosophy of language was his distinction between sense sinn and reference bedeutung. I do not think a proper reaction to your criticism of freges posit the reference of a sentence is its truthvalue can be made in the stackexchange format. Frege was a mathematician, and he thought that mathematicians should be able to explain what numbers are. Philosophy of mathematics 1991, it is dummetts chief contribution to frege scholarship. 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. Freges most striking contribution to the philosophy of language was his classification between meaning and reference. 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. To understand the importance of freges contribution we will focus on dummetts interpretation. The indirect sense of a sentence is its meaning to the subject of the main clause thought. Harvard university press is pleased to reissue this classic book in paperback. Locke s emphasis on individual words, as well as the foundational role he assigned to psychology, were attacked by the german logician gottlob frege 18481925, who is generally regarded as the father of modern philosophy of language.

Marshall mcluhan is taken for granted by many communication scholars, but he was a professor of english literature. White of freges work in the german collection hermes et al. Pdf gottlob freges contributions to philosophy of language are so numerous and so fundamental that it is difficult to imagine the field without. This highly acclaimed book is a major contribution to the philosophy of language as well as a systematic interpretation of frege, indisputably the father of analytic philosophy. These philosophers inspired both the development of analytic philosophy and various philosophical approaches to the study of language. It tells us that the axioms of arithmetic can be derived, purely logically, from a single principle.

Freges theorem collects eleven essays by richard g heck, jr, one of the worlds leading authorities on freges philosophy. Privatists accept both private senses and thoughts, while intersubjectivists dont accept either. Philosophy of language, second edition dummett, michael on. We shall begin by discussing some central topics of freges philosophy of language. Unless such an account could be supplied for a particular language. Frege s main contribution to philosophy spans philosophical logic, the theory of meaning, mathematical logic and the philosophy of mathematics. Because its investigations are conceptual rather than empirical, the philosophy of language is distinct from linguistics, though of course it must pay attention to the facts that linguistics and related disciplines reveal. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. The book clearly explains and assesses frege s work in these areas, systematically examining his major concepts, and revealing the links between them. Language use is a remarkable fact about human beings. The chapter describes the historical development of freges central views, and the connections between those views. Philosophy of language has been highly influential.

The philosophy of language has a history almost as long as the history of. 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. Essays in the philosophy of language international library of philosophy 1st edition by mark sainsbury author. Gottlob frege by individual philosopher philosophy.

He was a greek philosopher and is often referred to as the first teacher or the very first true scientist. His contributions to the philosophy of language include. As such, compositionality ranks as the distinctively linguistic contribution frege s philosophy of logic makes to philosophy of language, not just as a guiding maxim but also in particular aspects of frege s more detailed proposals. Freges sensereference distinction, freges theory of thought, freges anti psychologism and freges theory of demonstratives. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel.

Philosophy of language is considered one of the most important philosophical books of the 20th century. Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy philosophy of language. Scope and background thought, communication, and understanding. Frege is one of the founders of analytic philosophy, whose work on logic and language gave rise to the linguistic turn in philosophy. Studies in phenomenological and classical realism general editors. The interpretation of freges philosophy dummett, michael on. Pdf freges contribution to philosophy of language robert.

Beginning with a systematic look at freges foundational theories on sense and reference, alexander miller goes on to offer an exceptionally clear exposition of the development of subsequent arguments in the philosophy of language. An explanation of gottlob freges solutions to freges puzzle and the problem of propositional attitude reports using freges theory of sense. Freges innovations provided the basis of modern logic, but his influence in other areas should not be understated. As such, compositionality ranks as the distinctively linguistic contribution freges philosophy of logic makes to philosophy of language, not just as a guiding maxim but also in particular aspects of freges more detailed proposals. Freges contribution to philosophy of language philpapers. But, of course, freges view and kants view contradict each other only if they have the same conception of logic.

Considering the question of equality identity, he was faced with a number of problems. Philosophy of language freges revolution britannica. Philosophy sociology nonfiction john perry offers a rethinking of gottlob freges seminal contributions to philosophy of language. Initially, frege was trained as a mathematician and today, a better part of his nonfoundational mathematical contribution has significantly inspired issues such as complex analysis and geometry. His works cover a number of topics from politics, philosophy, metaphysics, logic, ethics, biology and more. The most distinguished followers of the tractatus were the logical positivists of the vienna circle, who flourished in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Gottlob frege 18481925 is most celebrated today for his contributions to mathematical logic and the philosophy of language. As any survey of collections on the philosophy of language would suggest, much of frege s influence on the philosophy of language can be found in two papers that i have not yet mentioned, on sense and meaning and thoughts. Freges on sense and reference philosophy of language. Freges contribution to philosophy of language oxford handbooks.

His philosophy of language has had just as much, if not more, impact than his contributions to logic and mathematics. This highly acclaimed book is a major contribution to the philosophy of language as well as a systematic interpretation of frege. Philosophy of language remains indispensable for an understanding of contemporary philosophy. The theorem is the central contribution of gottlob freges formal work on arithmetic. One tradition, call it the system perspective, thinks of a language as a collection of formal rules. Gottlob frege s contributions to philosophy of language are so numerous and so fundamental that it is difficult to imagine the field without them. Gottlob freges contributions to philosophy of language are so numerous and so fundamental that it is difficult to imagine the field without them. Freges sense reference distinction, freges theory of thought, freges anti psychologism and freges theory of demonstratives. Notes to gottlob frege stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Course description we shall begin by discussing some central topics of freges philosophy of language. Sluga author frege s theory of sense and reference. Lebenwerkzeit 2001 has already been available, and interpretations of freges philosophy as well as editions and. Philosophers today still find that work insightful.