Gottlob Frege
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the
University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of
analytic philosophy, concentrating on the
philosophy of language,
logic, and
mathematics. Though he was largely ignored during his lifetime,
Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932),
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), and, to some extent,
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) introduced his work to later generations of philosophers. Frege is widely considered to be the greatest logician since
Aristotle, and one of the most profound philosophers of mathematics ever.
His contributions include the
development of modern logic in the ''
Begriffsschrift'' and work in the
foundations of mathematics. His book the ''
Foundations of Arithmetic'' is the seminal text of the
logicist project, and is cited by
Michael Dummett as where to pinpoint the
linguistic turn. His philosophical papers "
On Sense and Reference" and "
The Thought" are also widely cited. The former argues for two different types of
meaning and
descriptivism. In ''Foundations'' and "The Thought", Frege argues for
Platonism against
psychologism or
formalism, concerning
numbers and
propositions respectively.
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