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Single Idea 10317

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates ]

Full Idea

Expositors of Frege's views have disagreed over whether abstract qualities are to be reckoned among his objects.

Gist of Idea

It is unclear whether Frege included qualities among his abstract objects

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (On Concept and Object [1892]) by Bob Hale - Abstract Objects Ch.2.II

Book Ref

Hale,Bob: 'Abstract Objects' [Blackwell 1987], p.33


A Reaction

[he cites Dummett 1973:70-80, and Wright 1983:25-8] There seems to be a danger here of a collision between Fregean verbal approaches to ontological commitment and the traditional views about universals. No wonder they can't decide.


The 9 ideas from 'On Concept and Object'

There is the concept, the object falling under it, and the extension (a set, which is also an object) [Frege, by George/Velleman]
Frege mistakenly takes existence to be a property of concepts, instead of being about things [Frege, by Yablo]
It is unclear whether Frege included qualities among his abstract objects [Frege, by Hale]
Frege's 'objects' are both the referents of proper names, and what predicates are true or false of [Frege, by Dummett]
Frege felt that meanings must be public, so they are abstractions rather than mental entities [Frege, by Putnam]
As I understand it, a concept is the meaning of a grammatical predicate [Frege]
For all the multiplicity of languages, mankind has a common stock of thoughts [Frege]
A thought can be split in many ways, so that different parts appear as subject or predicate [Frege]
Frege equated the concepts under which an object falls with its properties [Frege, by Dummett]