The Reception of Frege'sBegriffsschrift

✍ Scribed by Risto Vilkko

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 178 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0315-0860
• DOI: 10.1006/hmat.1998.2213

✦ Synopsis

The topic of the paper is the public reception of Gottlob Frege's (1848Frege's ( -1925) ) Begriffsschrift right after its publication in 1879. According to a widespread conception, the reception of the book was ''unfavorable'' and even ''tragic.'' The aim of the paper is to correct this exaggerated and even false view. The arguments are based, above all, on the six journal reviews of Frege's book in 1879 and 1880, and on Leonhard Rabus's critical comment on it in his book Die neuesten Bestrebungen auf dem Gebiete der Logik bei den Deutschen und die logische Frage (1880). The conclusion is that it is misleading to regard the reception of Frege's first work as unfair and hostile even though it is apparent that some reviewers of the book were rather poorly motivated to comment on the Begriffsschrift.