In Grundgesetze, Vol. II, §91, Frege argues that ‘it is applicability alone which elevates arithmetic from a game to the rank of a science’. Many view this as an in nuce statement of the indispensability argument (IA) later championed by Quine. Garavaso has questioned this attribution. I argue that even though Frege’s applicability argument is not a version of IA, it facilitates acceptance of suitable formulations of IA. The prospects for making the empiricist IA compatible with a rationalist Fregean framework appear thus much less dim than expected. Nonetheless, those arguing for such compatibility eventually face an hardly surmountable dilemma.

Frege, Indispensability, and the Compatibilist Heresy

Sereni A
2015-01-01

Abstract

In Grundgesetze, Vol. II, §91, Frege argues that ‘it is applicability alone which elevates arithmetic from a game to the rank of a science’. Many view this as an in nuce statement of the indispensability argument (IA) later championed by Quine. Garavaso has questioned this attribution. I argue that even though Frege’s applicability argument is not a version of IA, it facilitates acceptance of suitable formulations of IA. The prospects for making the empiricist IA compatible with a rationalist Fregean framework appear thus much less dim than expected. Nonetheless, those arguing for such compatibility eventually face an hardly surmountable dilemma.
2015
Indispensability argument; Frege's Constraint; Applicability of mathematics
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
sereni2014.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione Editoriale (PDF)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 290.97 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
290.97 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12076/205
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 5
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 5
social impact