Full Idea
The primitive truths contain the core of arithmetic because their constituents are simples which define the essential boundaries of the subject. …The primitive truths are the most general ones, containing the basic, essence determining elements.
Gist of Idea
The primitive simples of arithmetic are the essence, determining the subject, and its boundaries
Source
report of Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884]) by Robin Jeshion - Frege's Notion of Self-Evidence 2
Book Reference
-: 'Mind' [-], p.947
A Reaction
This presents Frege as explicable in essentialist terms, as identifying the core of an abstract discipline, from which the rest of it is generated. Jeshion says 'simples are the essence'.