Frege: A Guide for the Perplexed

GottlobFrege (1848-1925) was one of the founders of analytical philosophy and thegreatest innovator in logic since Aristotle. He introduced many influentialphilosophical ideas, such as the distinctions between function and argument, orbetween sense and reference. However, his thought is not readily accessible tothe non- expert. His conception of logic, which was crucial to his grandproject, the reduction of arithmetic to logic, is especially difficult tograsp. This book provides a lucid and critical introduction to Frege's logic,as he developed it in his groundbreaking first book Begriffsschrift (Conceptual Notation, 1879). It guides the readerdirectly to the core of Frege's philosophy, and to some of the most pertinentissues in contemporary philosophy of language, logic, mathematics, and mind.Unlike most other books, this commentary explains Frege's own logical notation,allowing students to study and appreciate those aspects of his work that hevalued most but are least understood today.