Single Idea 16881

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 1. Overview of Logic]

Full Idea

Since in view of the boundless multitude of laws that can be enunciated we cannot list them all, we cannot achieve completeness except by searching out those that, by their power, contain all of them.

Gist of Idea

The laws of logic are boundless, so we want the few whose power contains the others

Source

Gottlob Frege (Begriffsschrift [1879], §13)

Book Reference

'From Frege to Gödel 1879-1931', ed/tr. Heijenoort,Jean van [Harvard 1967], p.29


A Reaction

He refers to these laws in the previous sentence as the 'core'. His talk of 'power' is music to my ears, since it implies a direction of explanation. Burge says the power is that of defining other concepts.