About concept and object

About concept and subject is a short epistemological and linguistic-philosophical work by the philosopher Gottlob Frege (1848–1925), which is one of the classic texts of both disciplines.

Origin context

The text was created in 1892 in response to an essay by Benno Kerry: “On view and its psychological processing”, which was also reviewed by Alois Höfler at the time . Frege's essay " On Sense and Meaning " (Sens et dénotation / Sense and Reference) takes up the train of thought again.

content

The theme of the font is u. a. the semantic difference that often exists between sentences when, after exchanging a word, the sentence still has the same truth value and speaks about the same object. To this end, Frege differentiates between "sense" and "meaning" - today we usually speak of intension and extension - and specifies the semantics of the terms "concept" and "object". The following excerpt is particularly well-known about the subject-related conceptual distinction between morning star and Venus on the one hand and planet on the other:

“In the sentence 'the morning star is Venus' we have two proper names, 'morning star' and 'Venus', for the same object. In the sentence “the morning star is a planet” we have a proper name: “the morning star” and a term: “a planet”. Linguistically, nothing has happened except that “Venus” is replaced by “a planet”; but the relationship has become completely different. An equation is reversible; the falling of an object under a concept is an irreversible relationship. The “is” in the sentence “the morning star is Venus” is obviously not the mere copula , but also an essential part of the predicate in terms of content , so that the words: “Venus” do not contain the entire predicate. One could say for this: 'the morning star is nothing other than Venus', and here we have broken down what was previously in the simple 'is' in four words, and in 'is nothing other than' is now 'is' really only the copula. What is being stated here is therefore not Venus, but nothing other than Venus. These words mean a term that, of course, only includes a single object. But such a term still has to be distinguished from the subject. "

- Gottlob Frege : On Concept and Object, 194

literature

Thank God Frege: About concept and object. In: Quarterly journal for scientific philosophy. Volume 16, No. 2, 1892, pp. 192–205.

Web links

Wikisource: About concept and subject - sources and full texts

Kevin C. Klement: Frege: Sense and Reference. In: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
Hartley Slater: Concept and object in Frege

Individual evidence

↑ Cf. A. Höfler: Benno Kerry: About view and their psychological processing. Quarterly journal f. scientific Philosophy, 1885-1891, EG Husserl: Philosophy of Arithmetic. Psychological and logical investigations, first volume, Halle-Saale, Pfeffer-Stricker, 1891, Chr. BC Ehrenfels: On the philosophy of mathematics. Quarterly f. scientific Philosophy, 1891 . In: Journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sensory Organs . 6, 1894, pp. 44-58. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
↑ Italics in the original as a blocking phrase .

[1] Cf. A. Höfler: Benno Kerry: About view and their psychological processing. Quarterly journal f. scientific Philosophy, 1885-1891, EG Husserl: Philosophy of Arithmetic. Psychological and logical investigations, first volume, Halle-Saale, Pfeffer-Stricker, 1891, Chr. BC Ehrenfels: On the philosophy of mathematics. Quarterly f. scientific Philosophy, 1891 . In: Journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sensory Organs . 6, 1894, pp. 44-58. Retrieved May 10, 2011.

[2] Italics in the original as a blocking phrase .