Single Idea 8939

[catalogued under 2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 1. Laws of Thought]

Full Idea

Frege disagree that logic should merely describe the laws of thought - how people actually did reason. Logic is essentially normative, not descriptive. We want the one logic which successfully tracks the truth.

Gist of Idea

We should not describe human laws of thought, but how to correctly track truth

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (Begriffsschrift [1879]) by Jennifer Fisher - On the Philosophy of Logic 1.III

Book Reference

Fisher,Jennifer: 'On the Philosophy of Logic' [Thomson Wadsworth 2008], p.17


A Reaction

This explains Frege's sustained attack on psychologism, and it also explains we he ended up as a platonist about logic - because he wanted its laws to be valid independently of human thinking. A step too far, perhaps. Brains are truth machines.