"Frege is widely regarded as having set much of the agenda of contemporary analytic philosophy. As standardly read, he meant to introduce--and make crucial contributions to--the project of giving an account of the workings of (an improved version of) natural language. Yet, despite the great admiration most contemporary philosophers feel for Frege, it is widely believed that he committed a large number of serious, and inexplicable, blunders. For, if Frege really meant to be constructing a theory of the workings of (some version of) natural language, then a significant number of his stated views--including views that he claimed to be central to his philosophical picture--are straightforwardly wrong. But did Frege mean to be giving an account of the workings of language? He himself never actually claimed to be doing this, and, indeed, never even described such a project. Taking Frege at his Word offers an interpretation that is based on a different approach to his writings. Rather than using the contributions he is taken to have made to contemporary work in the philosophy of language to infer what his projects were, Joan Weiner gives priority to Frege's own accounts of what he means to be doing. She provides a very different view of Frege's project. One might suspect that, on such a reading, Frege's writings would have purely antiquarian interest, but this would be a mistake. The final two chapters show that Frege offers us new ways of addressing some of the philosophical problems that worry us today."

nexusstc/Taking Frege at his Word/bb00b356d198954afbb9655f170ab82b.pdf

lgrsnf/Weiner - Taking Frege at his Word.pdf

zlib/Society, Politics & Philosophy/Anthropology/Joan Weiner/Taking Frege at his Word_11947465.pdf

Weiner, Joan

Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

German Historical Institute London

OUP Oxford

First edition, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2020

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

2021

lg2978694

producers:
iText 2.1.7 by 1T3XT

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"Frege is widely regarded as having set much of the agenda of contemporary analytic philosophy. As standardly read, he meant to introduce-and make crucial contributions to-the project of giving an account of the workings of (an improved version of) natural language. Yet, despite the great admiration most contemporary philosophers feel for Frege, it is widely believed that he committed a large number of serious, and inexplicable, blunders. For, if Frege really meant to be constructing a theory of the workings of (some version of) natural language, then a significant number of his stated views-including views that he claimed to be central to his philosophical picture-are straightforwardly wrong. But did Frege mean to be giving an account of the workings of0language? He himself never actually claimed to be doing this, and, indeed, never even described such a project.0Taking Frege at his Word offers an interpretation that is based on a different approach to his writings. Rather than using the contributions he is taken to have made to contemporary work in the philosophy of language to infer what his projects were, Joan Weiner gives priority to Frege's own accounts of what he means to be doing. She provides a very different view of Frege's project. One might suspect that, on such a reading, Frege's writings would have purely antiquarian interest, but this would be a mistake. The final two chapters show that Frege offers us new ways of addressing some of the philosophical problems that worry us today"-- Provided by publisher

## Abstract
Frege is widely regarded as having set much of the agenda of contemporary analytic philosophy. As standardly read, he meant to introduce—and make crucial contributions to—the project of giving an account of the workings of (an improved version of) natural language. Yet, despite the great admiration most contemporary philosophers feel for Frege, it is widely believed that he committed a large number of serious, and inexplicable, blunders. For, if Frege really meant to be constructing a theory of the workings of (some version of) natural language, then a significant number of his stated views—including views that he claimed to be central to his philosophical picture—are straightforwardly wrong. But did Frege mean to be giving an account of the workings of language? Frege himself never actually claimed to be doing this. Taking Frege at his Word offers an interpretation that is based on a different approach to his writings. Rather than using the contributions he is taken to have made to contemporary work in the philosophy of language to infer what his projects were, Taking Frege at his Word gives priority to Frege’s own accounts of what he means to be doing. The upshot is a very different view of Frege’s project. One might suspect that Frege’s writings would have purely antiquarian interest. But this would be a mistake. The final two chapters show that Frege offers us new ways of addressing some of the philosophical problems that worry us today.

Dedication 6
Preface 8
Acknowledgments 16
Contents 18
A Note on Citations, Translations, and Abbreviations 22
Representation of Frege’s Logical Symbols 26
PART I. NATURAL LANGUAGE AND THEORIES OF MEANING 30
1. Language and the Standard Interpretation 32
2. Frege’s New Logic and the Function/Argument Regimentation 63
PART II. METAPHYSICS AND THE STANDARD INTERPRETATION 100
3. Metaphysics and the Standard Interpretation 102
PART III. METATHEORY AND THE STANDARD INTERPRETATION 142
4. Soundness, Epistemology, and Frege’s Project 144
5. Reference, the Context Principle, and the Significance of Sentential Priority 199
6. The Context Principle, Sentential Priority, and the Pursuit of Truth 240
PART IV. PUTTING FREGE’S LESSONS TO WORK 266
7. Why Frege’s Apparently Absurd View Is not Absurd at All 268
8. Mathematical Knowledge and Sentential vs. Subsentential Priority 299
Bibliography 326
Index 334

This study offers a new interpretation of the writings of Gottlob Frege. It advances our understanding of the history of analytic philosophy, and shows that Frege's writings have important significance for the way we should approach contemporary problems concerning language, logic, and mathematics.-- Provided by publisher.

2021-04-05