Frege and Other Philosophers

The ideas of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege lie at the root of the analytical movement in philosophy. Frege and Other Philosophers comprises all of Professor Dummett's published and previously unpublished essays on Frege, with the exception of those included in his Truth and Other Enigmas. In some of these essays he explores the relation of Frege's ideas to those of his predecessors and contemporaries. In others he considers critically some interpretations of Frege, and develops the argument for a sound understanding of Frege's thought which he first delineated in The Interpretation of Frege's Philosophy. Several of the essays illustrate his contention that Frege's work remains the best starting point for the investigation of problems concerning truth, meaning, thought, and language, which are still among the most contentious issues in modern analytical philosophy. Any discussion of Frege's ideas is therefore also an exploration of fundamental and as yet unresolved issues of philosophy.

Table of Contents:
Frege on the consistency of mathematical theories; Frege and the paradox of analysis; On a question of Frege's about right-ordered groups (With S. A. Adeleke and P. M. Neumann); Frege's 'Kernsatze zur Logik'; Frege as a realist; Objectivity and reality in Lotze and Frege; Frege and Kant on geometry; An unsuccessful dig; Second thoughts; Which end of the telescope?; Frege and Wittgenstein; Frege's myth of the third realm; Thought and perception: the views of two philosophical innovators; More about thoughts; The relative priority of thought and language; Appendix: Writings on Frege by Michael Dummett; Index.

Review :
`This collection will be of interest primarily to Frege scholars and to historians of analytic philosophy, as a supplement to Dummett's longer works on Frege. Philosophers investigating the nature of thought and its relationship to language will also be interested. ' International Philosophical Quarterly, Dec 1993. `Writing with a customary combination of boldness and scrupulousness, Dummett brings some of the most important issues in analytic philosophy into sharp focus ... he provides a fascinating insight into what gives analytic philosophy its elan vital. Here he is at his powerful, incisive best ' AW Moore, Times Literary Supplement `a philosophically rich and challenging collection ... Highly recommended for advanced undergraduates and above. ' W. Taschek, University of Michigan, Choice, Nov '91 `a writer who shows himself, in this volume, to be a skilled and sensitive historian of philosophy, as well as an analytical philosopher of distinction ... each of these papers requires and repays close reading ' Gregory Currie, The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 168 `Dummett's writings are thought-provoking and it is useful to have these essays collected ' Peter Milne, University of Edinburgh, Heythrop Journal, July 1994 `I find his collection very useful. It contains lucid analyses, challenges reflection, and sheds light on Frege's intellectual relations to other philosophers. As a result, it helps us to gain a deeper understanding of his philosophy.' History and Philosophy of Logic