Frege: A Guide for the Perplexed

Description

Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) was one of the founders of analytical philosophy and the greatest innovator in logic since Aristotle. He introduced many influential philosophical ideas, such as the distinctions between function and argument, or between sense and reference. However, his thought is not readily accessible to the non- expert. His conception of logic, which was crucial to his grand project, the reduction of arithmetic to logic, is especially difficult to grasp. This book provides a lucid and critical introduction to Frege's logic, as he developed it in his groundbreaking first book Begriffsschrift (Conceptual Notation, 1879). It guides the reader directly to the core of Frege's philosophy, and to some of the most pertinent issues in contemporary philosophy of language, logic, mathematics, and mind. Unlike most other books, this commentary explains Frege's own logical notation, allowing students to study and appreciate those aspects of his work that he valued most but are least understood today.

Edward Kanterian is lecturer in philosophy at the University of Kent, and the author of Analytic Philosophy (2004) and Wittgenstein (2007).He has a forthcoming book on Kant's God.

'This is a splendid book. In a lucid and leisurely style it explains the ideas of the greatest logician since Leibniz and a seminal figure in the growth both of analytical philosophy and of its continental rivals. The author shirks no difficulties. He provides the first book-length elucidation of Frege's original logical notation. He thoroughly explores such ideas as the function-argument and the sense-reference distinction, judiciously discriminating between what we should retain and what we should discard. He sheds a bright light into the darkest recesses of Frege's intricate thought.' -- Michael Inwood, Professor Emeritus, Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK