more from Gottlob Frege

Single Idea 10802

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

Full Idea

Frege's discussion of 'direction' borders on incoherent. He claims that the equivalence of lines a and b and their directions being equal have the same content, which leads to the concept of direction, but we grasp the equivalence before the equality.

Gist of Idea

Frege's 'parallel' and 'direction' don't have the same content, as we grasp 'parallel' first

Source

comment on Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884]) by Stephen Yablo - Carving Content at the Joints § 1

Book Reference

Yablo,Stephen: 'Things: Philosophical Papers vol. 2' [OUP 2010], p.246


A Reaction

[The Frege is in Grundlagen §64] Well said. The notion that we get the full concept of 'direction' from such paltry resources seems very weak. For a start, parallel lines exhibit two directions, not one.