Abstract
This paper challenges the common view that Boole is a psychologistic philosopher and Frege an anti-psychologistic one. As there is no single agreed notion of what psychologism in (deductive) logic is, various characterizations given in the literature are employed to show that there are similarities between Boole and Frege whichever account is chosen. The emphasis on similarities is in no way meant to deny that there also exist differences between them; these however are not considered here.
This is a preview of subscription content,log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Subscribe and save
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime
Buy Now
- Chapter
- JPY 3498
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- eBook
- JPY 17159
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- Softcover Book
- JPY 21449
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
- Hardcover Book
- JPY 21449
- Price includes VAT (Japan)
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agazzi, E., and N. Vassallo, eds. 1998a.George Boole: filosofia, logica, matematica. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Agazzi, E., and N. Vassallo, eds. 1998b.Introduzione al naturalismo filosofico contemporaneo. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Baker, G.P., and P.M.S. Hacker. 1984.Frege: Logical excavations. New York: Oxford University Press.
Baker, G.P., and P.M.S. 1989. Frege’s anti-psychologism. InPerspectives on psychologism, edited by M.A. Notturno. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Barone, F. 1961. ‘Algebra della logica’ e ‘Leggi del pensiero’.Filosofia 12: 39–86.
Bochenski, I.M. 1956.Formale Logik. Freiburg/München: Karl Alber.
Boole, G. [1854] 1958.An investigation of the laws of thought, on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities. Cambridge and London: Walton and Maberley. Reprint, New York: Dover.
Boole, G. 1952.Studies in logic and probability, edited by R. Rhees. London: Watts.
Boole, G. 1997.Selected manuscripts on logic and its philosophy, edited by I. Grattan-Guinness and G. Bornet. Basel: Birkhäuser.
Bornet, G. 1995. George Boole’s linguistic turn and the origins of analytical philosophy. InThe British tradition in 20th century philosophy, edited by J. Hintikka and K. Puhl. Wien: Holder-Pichler-Tempsky.
Bornet, G. 1997. Boole’s psychologism as a reception problem. In Boole (1997), xlvii-lviii.
Brockhaus, R.R. 1991. Realism and psychologism in 19th century logic.Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 51: 493–524.
Callebaut, W., and E. Sober. 1993. The return of psychologism. InTaking the naturalistic turn or how real philosophy of science is done, edited by W. Callebaut. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Carnap, R. 1950.Logical foundations of probabilities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cobb-Stevens, R. 1990.Husserl and analytic philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Cohen, M.R., and E. Nagel. [1934] 1972.Introduction to logic and scientific method. New York: Harcourt Brace. Reprint, London: Routledge.
Currie, G. 1982.Frege, an introduction to his philosophy. Brighton: Harvester Press.
Dalla Chiara, M.L. 1979.Logica. Milano: Mondadori.
Di Francesco, M. 1996.Introduzione alla filosofia della mente. Roma: Laterza.
Dummett, M. 1973.Frege. Philosophy of language. London: Duckworth.
Dummett, M. 1978.Truth and other enigmas. London: Duckworth.
Dummett, M. 1983. ‘Preface to the Italian edition’ of Dummett (1973). Casale Monferrato: Marietti.
Dummett, M. 1993.Origins of analytical philosophy. London: Duckworth.
Ferriani, M. 1984. Boole, Frege e la distinzione leibnizianaLingua-Calculus. Annali di discipline filosofiche dell’Universita di Bologna 3: 145–71.
Feys, R. 1955. Boole as a logician.Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 57: 97–106.
Frege, G. 1950.The foundations of arithmetic. Oxford: Blackwell.
Frege, G. 1952.Translations from the philosophical writing of Gottlob Frege. Edited by P.T. Geach and M. Black. Oxford: Blackwell.
Frege, G. 1964.The basic laws of arithmetic. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Frege, G. 1977.Logical investigations. Edited by P.T. Geach. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Frege, G. 1979.Posthumous writings. Oxford: Blackwell.
Frege, G. 1980.Philosophical and mathematical correspondence. Oxford: Blackwell.
Frege, G. 1989.Briefe an Ludwig Wittgenstein.Grazer Philosophische Studien 33/34: 8–26.
French, P.A., T.E. Uehling, and H.K. Wettstein, eds. 1994.Philosophical naturalism. Midwest Studies in Philosophy no 19.
Goldfarb, W. 1979. Logic in the twenties: the nature of the quantifier.Journal of Symbolic Logic 44: 351–68.
Grattan-Guinness, I. 1982. Psychology in the foundation of logic and mathematics: the cases of Boole, Cantor and Brouwer.History and Philosophy of Logic 3: 33–53.
Frege, G. 1988. Living together and living apart. On the interactions between mathematics and logics from the French Revolution to the First World War.South African Journal of Philosophy 7: 73–82.
Frege, G. 1997. Boole’s quest for the foundations of his logic. In Boole (1997), xiii-xlvii.
Haack, S. 1978.Philosophy of logics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hesse, M.B. 1952. Boole’s philosophy of logic.Annals of Science 8: 61–81.
Husserl, E. 1900, 1913.Logische Untersuchungen. Vol. 1,Prolegomena zur reinen Logik. Tübingen: M. Niemeyer.
Johnson, W.E. 1921.Logic, part I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jørgensen, J. [1931] 1962.A treatise of formal logic. Oxford. Reprint, New York: Russell and Russell.
Jourdain, P.E.B. 1910. The development of the theories of mathematical logic and the principles of mathematics.Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics 41: 324–52.
Kitcher, P. 1979. Frege’s epistemology.Philosophical Review 86: 235–62.
Kitcher, P. 1992. The naturalists return.Philosophical Review 101: 53–114.
Kneale, W., and M. Kneale. 1962.The development of logic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Laita, L.M. 1980. Boolean algebra and its extra-logical sources: the testimony of Mary Everest Boole.History and Philosophy of Logic 1: 37–60.
MacHale, D. 1985.George Boole, his life and work. Dublin: Boole Press.
Mangione, C. 1972. La svolta della logica nell’Ottocento. InStoria del pensiero filosofico e scientifico, edited by L. Geymonat. Milano: Garzanti.
Mangione, C., and S. Bozzi. 1993.Storia della logica, da Boole ai nostri giorni. Milano: Garzanti.
McGinn, C. 1993. Logic, mind and mathematics.Philosophical Issues 4: 101–27.
Mohanty, J.N. 1989. Psychologism. InPerspectives on psychologism, edited by M.A. Notturno. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Mugnai, M. 1993. ‘Introduction’ to the Italian edition of G. Boole,The mathematical analysis of logic [in Boole (1952)]. Torino: Bollati e Boringhieri.
Mugnai, M. 1998. Boole e lo psicologismo: la caratterizzazione delle leggi logiche inAn investigation of the laws of thought. In Agazzi and Vassallo (1998a), 111–130.
Musgrave, A. 1972. George Boole and psychologism.Scientia 107: 593–608.
Notturno, M.A. 1982. Frege and the psychological reality thesis.Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 12: 329–44.
Picardi, E. 1996. Frege’s anti-psychologism. InFrege: importance and legacy, edited by M. Schirn. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Putnam, H. 1990. Peirce the logician. In Putnam, H.,Realism with a human face. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Radnitzky, G. 1976. Popperian philosophy of science as an antidote against relativism. InEssays in memory of Imre Lakatos, edited by R.S. Cohen et al. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Russell, B. 1901. Recent work on the principles of mathematics.International Monthly 4: 83–101.
Ryle, G. 1956.The revolution in philosophy. London: Macmillan.
Seebohm, T.M. 1991. Psychologism revisited. InPhenomenology and the formal sciences, edited by T.M. Seebohm, D. Follesdal, and J.N. Mohanty. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Sober, E. 1978. Psychologism.Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 8: 165–91.
Thagard, P. 1982. From the descriptive to the normative in psychology and logic.Philosophy of Science 49: 24–42.
Thomas, I. 1955. Boole’s concept of science.Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 57: 88–96.
Vassallo, N. 1995.La depsicologizzazione della logica. Un confronto tra Boole e Frege. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Vassallo, N. 1997a. On Dummett’s early Frege and analytical philosophy.Dialectica 51: 171–87.
Vassallo, N. 1997b. Analysis versus laws: Boole’s explanatory psychologism versus his explanatory antipsychologism.History and Philosophy of Logic 18: 151–63.
Vassallo, N. 1998. Objective and subjective: some difficulties for Frege. InLa réalité et le signe, edited by M. Negro. Fribourg: Editions Universitaires de Fribourg.
Villanueva, E., ed. 1993. Naturalism and normativity.Philosophical Issues 4.
Weiner, J. 1990.Frege in perspective. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Dept. of Philosophy, University of Genoa, via Balbi 4, I-16126, Genova, Italy
Nicla Vassallo
- Nicla Vassallo
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
University of Lausanne, Switzerland
James Gasser
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vassallo, N. (2000). Psychologism in Logic: Some Similarities between Boole and Frege. In: Gasser, J. (eds) A Boole Anthology. Synthese Library, vol 291. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9385-4_17
Download citation
Publisher Name:Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN:978-90-481-5491-3
Online ISBN:978-94-015-9385-4
eBook Packages:Springer Book Archive
Share this chapter
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative