Freges The Thought

dorunun anlam
Grammatically appears as an adjective So a thing cannot be true, but a picture or idea about it might be

The thing cannot be true

A picture or idea about it can be

It looks like Truth requires a relation between two things and is determined by whether they correspond

Freges The Thought

So you assume truth has something to do with correspondence, its a relation between two things But true is not a relation word, its an adjective. It contains no reference to anything else two which something must correspond
If you dont know what the picture or idea is meant to represent, you dont know to what you should compare it to determine truth Strictly speaking, for two things to correspond, they would need to be identical, and thus be the same thing

Freges The Thought

What we want to say is that our ideas correspond to reality in some way and are true
Not that they are identical, but that they correspond in some respect or other But looking at any particular respect, youd have to define characteristics and the same criticisms above would apply

Correspondence theory collapses

Freges The Thought

So Truth isnt about the correspondence of things and pictures or ideas Any time the question of truth comes up, one refers to a sentence

=
Picture/Idea

My idea corresponds to the Cathedral

Sentence

What we mean when we say the truth of an idea or picture is really the truth of a sentence

Freges The Thought

Frege uses the term thought to describe the sense of a sentence It is not material, but clothed in the material and perceptible (which are excluded from sphere of truth) Truth is not a property of things, though properties of things are joined to truth in the property of a thought
I smell violets = It is true that I smell violets

Freges The Thought

Not all sentences have senses which are thoughts in Freges meaning:
Imperative = no Declarative = yes Exclamatory = maybe
If they communicate something agreed upon = yes Venting feelings = no

Interrogative = maybe
Word questions = no Why?, When? Yes/No questions = yes Are you daft?

Freges The Thought

In sentences that express thoughts, there are two components: the content and the assertion
The content = the thought The assertion = laying the thought out as true

So [kind of a jump here]

Apprehension of a thought = thinking Recognition of the truth of a thought = judgment Manifestation of this judgment = assertion
Side note: sentences can also contain a third component that acts on the feelings, which isnt part of content, but somehow relates to assertive style

Freges The Thought

Language is complicated
Stress during assertion can aid understanding (emphasis, word order, etc.) without altering thought He says content can go beyond thought, but I think he means assertion can go beyond thought Sometimes assertion isnt sufficient to convey thought Sometimes thought is different for same assertion coming from different people

Freges The Thought

People have their own inner world of senseimpressions, imagination, sensations, moods, inclinations, etc. Frege calls these ideas. Wholly interior & subjective, not part of independent, external world
Ideas cannot be seen, smelled, tasted, touched, heard Ideas are had Ideas need a bearer (same as #2?) Every idea has only one bearer

Question: is a thought an idea? (you should know the answer, but see the next slide)

Freges The Thought

Thoughts Ideas
Two people can have the same thought, e.g. Pythagorean Theorem: x2 + y2 = z2 If every thought needed one and only one bearer, then there could be no shared thoughts, i.e. science, knowledge, etc.

Freges conclusion: thoughts are not ideas, nor are they part of the material, external world Oooooohhh, snap!

Freges The Thought

Guess what this distinction gets you?
Defeat of idealism: ideas are not the only objects for consciousness Defeat of radical skepticism: if you can apprehend something of which you are not the bearer or producer, then there is something outside you Problem of identity: if there were only ideas, the I would be an idea only. Thoughts allow one to distinguish between my thought of myself and the thing having the thought Problem of solipsism: if I can identify myself as a bearer of independent thought, I can recognize others as the same

Was fr ein Gedanke!