Single Idea 9190

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 3. Ontology of Concepts / c. Fregean concepts]

Full Idea

In later Frege, a concept could be taken as a particular case of a function, mapping every object on to one of the truth-values (T or F), according as to whether, as we should ordinarily say, that object fell under the concept or not.

Gist of Idea

A concept is a function mapping objects onto truth-values, if they fall under the concept

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (Grundgesetze der Arithmetik 1 (Basic Laws) [1893]) by Michael Dummett - The Philosophy of Mathematics 3.5

Book Reference

'Philosophy 2: further through the subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1998], p.147


A Reaction

As so often in these attempts at explanation, this sounds circular. You can't decide whether an object truly falls under a concept, if you haven't already got the concept. His troubles all arise (I say) because he scorns abstractionist accounts.