Frege A Guide for the Perplexed [Hardcover]

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.

A guide to the thought and ideas of Gottlob Frege, one of the most important but also perplexing figures in the history of analytic philosophy.

1. Introduction \ 2. Begriffsschrift: probing the terrain \ 2.1 Scope of a concept-script\ 2.2 The epistemological dimension of logic \ 2.3 The struggle against intuition and language \ 2.4 Concept-script: a brief overview \ 3. Begriffsschrift: digging deeper \ 3.1 The judgment-stroke and the content-stroke \ 3.2 Subject and predicate \ 3.3 Modes of judgment, negation \ 3.4 Conditionality \ 3.5 The functional character of concept-script\ 3.6 Identity \ 3.7 Definition \ 3.8 Logical analysis and elucidations \ 3.9 Functions and functional analysis \ 3.10 Functions, concepts, properties \ 3.11 Generality \ 3.12 Inference \ 4. Later developments \ 4.1 Sense and Meaning \ 4.2 The function-theoretic account of Sense \ 4.3 The challenge of contingent thoughts \ 4.4 Are concepts funclƒ"