Frege's ontology : a critical examination of its foundations
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Philosophy, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Rein, Andrew Paul
issued: 2010-03-09T17:43:46Z
issued: 1979
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: There are two contentious ontological claims that Frege makes. Firstly, that predicates have reference and secondly, that their reference is 'unsaturated'. It is the primary aim of this essay to examine the latter claim. Following an introductory exposition of the Fregean concepts crucial to this essay, the claim that the references of predicates are 'unsaturated' is considered as a response to the problem of the unity of the proposition. As a special case of this problem, F.H. Bradley's attack on relations is discussed. It is argued that once one understands that relations are unsaturated, Bradley's problem, and by extension the problem of the unity of the proposition, disappears. But a crucial semantic principle is shown to emerge from this attempted solution to these problems: Any language capable of talking about relations and concepts cannot refer to these by means of proper names. This principle, it then appears, renders us incapable of specifying in a given instance which concept a predicate refers to. Two recent attempts to avoid this problem are discussed and rejected. Insight gained from this discussion leads to a third, purely Fregean solution to the problem. This solution, which is forced upon Frege by his own principles, is seen to involve him in a vicious circle. It appears that Frege's ontological doctrines are ill-founded - that they cannot solve the very problems for which they were designed.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/21662
note: ( FREGE'S ONTOLOGY: A C R I T I C A L EXAMINATION OF ITS FOUNDATIONS by ANDREW PAUL REIN B . A . The U n i v e r s i t y o f Cape Town, 197^ A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS ^ f i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Depar tment o f P h i l o s o p h y ) We a c c e p t t h i s t h e s i s as c o n f o r m i n g t o the r e q u i r e d s t a n d a r d THE UNIVERSITY OF B R I T I S H COLUMBIA September 1979 (c) Andrew P a u l R e i n , 1979 I n p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r an a d v a n c e d d e g r e e a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , I a g r e e t h a t t h e L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e and s t u d y . I f u r t h e r a g r e e t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r s c h o l a r l y p u r p o s e s may be g r a n t e d by t h e Head o f my D e p a r t m e n t o r by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s u n d e r s t o o d t h a t c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l n o t be a l l o w e d w i t h o u t my w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . D e p a r t m e n t o f jMJAo£0£Ji^ The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a 2075 W e s b r o o k P l a c e V a n c o u v e r , C a n a d a V6T 1W5 D a t e fir Sefrennet mi i i Abstract There are two contentious ontological claims that Frege makes. Firstly, that predicates have reference and secondly, that their reference is 'unsaturated'. It is the primary aim of this essay to examine the latter claim. Following an introductory exposition of the Fregean concepts crucial to this essay, the claim that the references of predicates are 'unsaturated' is considered?! as a response to the problem of the unity of the proposition. As a special case of …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0094725
language: eng
degree discipline: Philosophy
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
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scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21662