Word and Object in Husserl, Frege, and Russell: The Roots of Twentieth-Century Philosophy

231 Pages·1991·10.956 MB·English

by  Claire Ortiz Hill

WORD AND OBJECT IN
HUSSERL, FREGE,
AND RUSSELL
The Roots of
Twentieth-Century Philosophy
By CLAIRE ORTIZ HILL
OHIO UNIVERSITY PIU.SS
!\ I h,' lIS

© copyright 1991 by Claire Ortiz Hill
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper. 00
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hill, Claire Orti7.
Word and object in Husser!, Frege, and Russell: the roots
twentieth-century philosophy / by Claire Ortiz Hill.
p. em. - (Series in continental thought: 17)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1002-4
1. Husser!, Edmund, 1859-1938. 2. Frege, Gottlob, 1848-1925.
3. Russell, Bertrand, 1872-1970. 4. Philosophy, Modern-20th
century. I. Title. II. Series.
B3279.H94H54 1991
142'.7 -dc20 91-3291
CIP

A mis abuelos:
FRANK AND MARGARET MARY ORTIZ AND
THE LATE HERBERT AND loRENA HILL
One of the things I realized in 1918 was that I had not
paid enough attention to "meaning" and to linguistic
problems generally. It was then that I began to be aware
of the many problems concerned with the relation
between words and things.
BERTRAND RUSSELL, My Philosophical Development
CONTENTS
IX Abbreviations
Xl Preliminary Terminological Comments
Xlll Glossary
XIV Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
PART ONE
loGIC, REALISM, AND THE FOUNDATIONS
OF ARITHMETIC
7 CHAPTER ONE: THE ARGUMENT THAT FREGE INFLUENCED
HUSSERL
13 CHAPTER Two: HUSSERL, FREGE, AND PSYCHOLOGISM
14 §1. The influence of Frege's review
16 §2. The question of dates
19 §3. Husserl's account
20 §4. Psychological versus transcendental analyses
25 §5. The radically meditating philosopher meets
Napoleon
29 CHAPTER THREE: SENSE, MEANING, A~m NOEMA
30 §1. Identifying senses and noemata
31 §2. Word, object, and meaning in Frege
32 §3. Word, object, and meaning in Husserl
34 §4. Historical considerations
35 §5. Terminological considerations
38 §6. The fundamental differences
41 §7. Conclusions
43 CHAPTER FOUR: HUSSERLS I89I CRITIQUE OF FREGE
44 §1. Identity and analytic philosophy
44 §2. Equality and identity
46 §3. So long as the least difference remains
48 §4. Informative identity statements
51 §5. No backward road from reference to sense
52 §6. Substitutivity presumes identity
54 §7. Concluding remarks
57 CHAPTER FIVE: FREGE'S REVIEW AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF HUSSERLS THOUGHT
58 §1. Presentation
70 §2. Confusing concepts and objects
76 §3. Subjectivity and the objectivity of knowledge
80 §4. Things-in-themselves
91 CONCLUSION: ANALYTICITY
PART Two
CONCEPTUAL CLARITY
99 INTRODUCTION
103 CHAPTER SIX: INTENSIONS AND EXTENSIONS
105 §1. The terminological darkness
106 §2. The meanings of "intension" and prior intensions
111 §3. Frege's intensions
117 §4. Obtaining objects from concepts
121 § 5. A note regarding opaque contexts
125 CHAPTER SEVEN: PRESENTATIONS AND IDEAS
126 §1. The source of the confusion in Kant
127 §2. Reactions to Kant
129 §3. The terminological confusion
131 §4. Frege's thoughts
132 §5. Russell's ideas
134 §6. Russell, Meinong, and Frege
137 CHAPTER EIGHT: FUNCTION AND CONCEPT
137 §1. The confusion
139 §2. The terminological confusion
141 §3. Frege on functions
143 §4. Charting the course of meaning
145 §5. Some consequences
147 CHAPTER NINE: ON DENOTING
148 §1. Identity and denotation
150 §2. Obtaining objects from concepts via definite
descriptions
154 §3. Substitutivity
156 §4. The inverse relation of intension and extension
160 §5. The final solution
163 CONCLUSION: THE WAY THINGS ARE
175 Notes
191 Bibliography
209 Index
ABBREVIATIONS
In order to facilitate reference to different editions and transla
tions I have cited chapter and section numbers rather than page
numbers whenever possible.
FREGE'S WORKS
BL The Basic Laws of Arithmetic. trans., Furth. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1957. Originally published
as Crundgesetze der Arithmetik (Jena, 1893).
BS Begriffsschrift, a formula language, modeled upon that of
arithmetic, for pure thought in From Frege to Codel, ed.
Jean van Heijenoort, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univer
sity Press, 1967. Originally published as Begriffsschrift:
eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des
reines Denkens (Halle, 1879).
FA The Foundations of Arithmetic, ed. and trans. J. L. Austin,
Oxford: Blackwell, 1986 (2d ed. rev.). Originally published
as Die Crundlagen der Arithmetik (Breslau: Marcus, 1884).
FR "Review of Dr. E. Husserl's Philosophy ofA rithmetic," trans.
by E. W. Kluge, Mind 81, no. 323, (July 1972): 321-37.
Originally published as "Rezension von E. Husser!:
Philosophie der Arithmetik, Zeitschrijt fur Philosophie und
philosophische Kritik 103 (1894): 313-32.
GB Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Cottlob
Frege, ed. Geach and Black, Oxford: Blackwell, 1980. 3rd.
ed.
PMC Philosophical and Mathematical Correspondence. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1979.
PW Posthumous Writings. Oxford: Blackwell, 1979.
H USSERLS WORKS
OCN On the Concept of Number: Psychological Analyses, trans.
Dallas Willard. Philosophica Mathematica 9 (Summer
IX