This page intentionally left blank ThePhilosophyofGottlobFrege ThisbookisananalysisofFrege’sviewsonlanguageandmetaphysics raisedin“OnSenseandReference,”arguablyoneofthemostimpor- tantphilosophicalessaysofthepasthundredyears.Itprovidesathor- ough introduction to the function/argument analysis and applies Frege’stechniquetothecentralnotionsofpredication,identity,exis- tence,andtruth.OfparticularinterestistheanalysisoftheParadox of Identity and a discussion of three solutions: the little-known Begriffsschrift solution, the sense/reference solution, and Russell’s “OnDenoting”solution.Russell’sviewswendtheirwaythroughthe work,servingasafoiltoFrege.Appendixesgivetheproofsofthefirst sixty-eightpropositionsofBegriffsschriftinmodernnotation. Thisbookwillbeofinteresttostudentsandprofessionalsinphi- losophyandlinguistics. RichardL.MendelsohnisProfessorofPhilosophyatLehmanCollege andtheGraduateSchool,theCityUniversityofNewYork. The Philosophy of Gottlob Frege RICHARD L. MENDELSOHN LehmanCollegeandtheGraduateSchool,CUNY cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521836692 © Richard L. Mendelsohn 2005 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2005 isbn-13 978-0-511-10977-5 eBook (NetLibrary) isbn-10 0-511-10977-6 eBook (NetLibrary) isbn-13 978-0-521-83669-2 hardback isbn-10 0-521-83669-7 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. ForMarsha,Robin,andJosh WithLove Contents ListofPrinciples page xi Preface xv 1 Biography 1 2 FunctionandArgument 7 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 WhatIsaFunction? 8 2.3 FunctionandArgument 9 2.4 ExtensionsoftheNotation 13 2.5 TheSubstitutionPrincipleforReference 19 2.6 FormalModeandMaterialMode 23 3 SenseandReference 27 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 TheParadoxofIdentity 28 3.3 TheSharpenedParadox 29 3.4 TheGeneralizedParadox 30 3.5 ThreeSolutions 30 3.6 SenseandReference 33 4 Frege’sBegriffsschriftTheoryofIdentity 41 4.1 Introduction 41 4.2 TheBegriffsschriftSemanticTheory 42 4.3 Criticism:TheReceivedView 49 4.4 Criticism:Church-LangfordConsiderations 52 4.5 Criticism:TheAllegedRegress 58 4.6 Criticism:Use/MentionConfusion 60 vii