Full Idea
The ultimate building blocks of a discipline contain, as it were in a nutshell, its whole contents.
Gist of Idea
The building blocks contain the whole contents of a discipline
Source
Gottlob Frege (works [1890]), quoted by Tyler Burge - Frege on Knowing the Foundations 1
Book Reference
Burge,Tyler: 'Truth, Thought, Reason (on Frege)' [OUP 2001], p.320
A Reaction
[Burge gives a reference] I would describe this nutshell as the 'essence' of the subject, and it fits Aristotle's concept of an essence perfectly. Does it fit biology or sociology, in the way it might fit maths or logic? Think of DNA or cells in biology.