Single Idea 9857

[catalogued under 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence]

Full Idea

We arrive at the concept of suicide by considering both occurrences in the sentence 'Cato killed Cato' of the proper name 'Cato' as simultaneously replaceable by another name, say 'Brutus', and so apprehending the pattern common to both sentences.

Gist of Idea

We arrive at the concept 'suicide' by comparing 'Cato killed Cato' with 'Brutus killed Brutus'

Source

Michael Dummett (Frege philosophy of mathematics [1991], Ch.14)

Book Reference

Dummett,Michael: 'Frege: philosophy of mathematics' [Duckworth 1991], p.173


A Reaction

This is intended to illustrate Frege's 'logical abstraction' technique, as opposed to wicked psychological abstraction. The concept of suicide is the pattern 'x killed x'. This is a crucial example if we are to understand abstraction...