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Single Idea 9821
[filed under theme 2. Reason / D. Definition / 2. Aims of Definition
]
Full Idea
Frege expressly denies that a correct definition need capture the sense of the expression it defines: it need only get the reference right.
Gist of Idea
A definition need not capture the sense of an expression - just get the reference right
Source
report of Gottlob Frege (Review of Husserl's 'Phil of Arithmetic' [1894]) by Michael Dummett - Frege philosophy of mathematics Ch.3
Book Ref
Dummett,Michael: 'Frege: philosophy of mathematics' [Duckworth 1991], p.32
A Reaction
This might hit up against the renate/cordate problem, of two co-extensive concepts, where the definition gets the extension right, but the intension wrong.
The
15 ideas
from 'Review of Husserl's 'Phil of Arithmetic''
9821
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A definition need not capture the sense of an expression - just get the reference right
[Frege, by Dummett]
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17446
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Counting rests on one-one correspondence, of numerals to objects
[Frege]
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9577
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The naïve view of number is that it is like a heap of things, or maybe a property of a heap
[Frege]
|
9578
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If objects are just presentation, we get increasing abstraction by ignoring their properties
[Frege]
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9580
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Our concepts recognise existing relations, they don't change them
[Frege]
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9579
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Disregarding properties of two cats still leaves different objects, but what is now the difference?
[Frege]
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9581
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Many people have the same thought, which is the component, not the private presentation
[Frege]
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9582
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Husserl rests sameness of number on one-one correlation, forgetting the correlation with numbers themselves
[Frege]
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9583
|
Psychological logicians are concerned with sense of words, but mathematicians study the reference
[Frege]
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9584
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Identity baffles psychologists, since A and B must be presented differently to identify them
[Frege]
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9585
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Since every definition is an equation, one cannot define equality itself
[Frege]
|
9586
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In a number-statement, something is predicated of a concept
[Frege]
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9587
|
How do you find the right level of inattention; you eliminate too many or too few characteristics
[Frege]
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9588
|
Number-abstraction somehow makes things identical without changing them!
[Frege]
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9589
|
Numbers are not real like the sea, but (crucially) they are still objective
[Frege]
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