Frege: A Guide for the Perplexed

Edward Kanterian is lecturer in philosophy at the University of Kent, and the author of Analytic Philosophy (2004) and Wittgenstein (2007).He has a forthcoming book on Kant's God.

'This is a splendid book. In a lucid and leisurely style it explains the ideas of the greatest logician since Leibniz and a seminal figure in the growth both of analytical philosophy and of its continental rivals. The author shirks no difficulties. He provides the first book-length elucidation of Frege's original logical notation. He thoroughly explores such ideas as the function-argument and the sense-reference distinction, judiciously discriminating between what we should retain and what we should discard. He sheds a bright light into the darkest recesses of Frege's intricate thought.'

• 1. Introduction \ 2. Begriffsschrift: probing the terrain \ 2.1 Scope of a concept-script\ 2.2 The epistemological dimension of logic \ 2.3 The struggle against intuition and language \ 2.4 Concept-script: a brief overview \ 3. Begriffsschrift: digging deeper \ 3.1 The judgment-stroke and the content-stroke \ 3.2 Subject and predicate \ 3.3 Modes of judgment, negation \ 3.4 Conditionality \ 3.5 The functional character of concept-script\ 3.6 Identity \ 3.7 Definition \ 3.8 Logical analysis and elucidations \ 3.9 Functions and functional analysis \ 3.10 Functions, concepts, properties \ 3.11 Generality \ 3.12 Inference \ 4. Later developments \ 4.1 Sense and Meaning \ 4.2 The function-theoretic account of Sense \ 4.3 The challenge of contingent thoughts \ 4.4 Are concepts functions? \ 4.5 Concept and object \ 4.6 Fictional discourse \ 5. Epilogue \ 6. Literature \ Notes \ Index