Product Description

This is the first single–volume edition and translation of Frege′s philosophical writings to include all of his seminal papers and substantial selections from all three of his major works.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #421504 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
"The book aims to be the best single edition available for introductory Frege courses. It is a well organized, reasonably priced one–stop Frege shop. It is too convenient not to be used in introductory courses on Frege; in fact, as a single volume, it has no competition I can think of. The general conception is excellent. It is easily readable by graduates or advanced under graduates. The forty–six page introduction and notes to the translations make it useful also for Frege scholars. The book′s virtues are strong. I recommend it for courses on Frege, philosophy of language, philosophy of logic, and analytic philosophy." Jan Dejnozka, History and Philosophy of Logic

From the Back Cover
This is the first single–volume edition and translation of Frege′s philosophical writings to include all of his seminal papers as well as substantial selections from all three of his major works. It is intended to provide the essential primary texts for students of logic, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mathematics.

It contains in particular Frege′s four papers "Function and Concept", "On Concept and Object", "On Sense and Reference", and "Thought", and new translations of key parts of the Begriffsschrift, The Foundations of Arithmetic, and the Basic Laws of Arithmetic. The editor′s substantial introduction provides the reader with an overview of the significance and development of Frege′s philosophy, while the footnotes, appendices and glossary facilitate understanding of some of the more difficult elements of Frege′s thought.

About the Author
Michael Beaney is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds and author of Frege: Making Sense (1996).

Customer Reviews

The only collection of Frege's work that I could find
Frege's work marks a crucial turning point for logic, and the beginning of analytic philosophy. His 'Begriffschrift' started modern quantification theory, representing the biggest development in logic since Aristotle. This allowed him to try to derive arithmetic from logic - the programme of logicism. Unfortunately, Russell's paradox intervened, demonstrating that the system that he developed in the 'Grundgesetze'. His response to the collapse of his life's project is the epitome of grace, and is included here. Frege's logicism has lately been reexamined, and a 'consistent core' has been found.

Frege's work has been consistently misinterpreted, so its essential to read the original material that he wrote. This consititutes the body of this volume. Particularly useful are the excerpts from Frege's unpublished work, the classic essay 'on sense and reference' becomes much more understandable when you read it alongside his notes on the text, for example. The 'substantive' introduction is clear-headed and readable.

I suppose its also good that the translation of the Foundations is brought into line with the other works... though I miss the elegence of Austin's version. Also, I wonder a bit about the accuracy of the translation, as some of the departures from Austin's translation don't seem to be based on the German text.

However, this is a necessary work. Frege is a huge figure in the history of thought - and its a scandal that it is so difficult to get hold of his work