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Single Idea 5657

[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / i. Deflating being ]

Full Idea

Frege's quantificational logic vindicates Kant's insight that existence is not a predicate and leads to fallacies when treated as one; and we might also say, despite Hegel, that there is no concept of being.

Clarification

Frege's quantifiers are 'for all x' and 'there exists an x'

Gist of Idea

Frege's logic showed that there is no concept of being

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (works [1890]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.17

Book Ref

Scruton,Roger: 'A Short History of Modern Philosophy' [ARK 1985], p.246


A Reaction

I notice that Colin McGinn has questioned the value of quantificational logic. It is difficult to assert that 'there is no concept of x', if several people have written large books about it.


The 10 ideas with the same theme [denial that much of interest can be said about being]:

To think about being we must have an opinion about what it is [Nietzsche]
There is no 'being'; it is just the opposition to nothingness [Nietzsche]
Frege's logic showed that there is no concept of being [Frege, by Scruton]
The word 'being' is very tempting, but in fact means nothing at all [Cioran]
Is being just referent of the verb 'to be'? [Marcus (Barcan)]
Before Being there is politics [Deleuze]
Ontology does not tell what there is; it is just a strange adventure [Deleuze, by May]
Being is a problem to be engaged, not solved, and needs a new mode of thinking [Deleuze, by May]
The modern view of Being comes when we reject numbers as merely successions of One [Badiou]
The primitive name of Being is the empty set; in a sense, only the empty set 'is' [Badiou]