Customer Reviews

Frege (Penguin Philosophy)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the best introduction to the development of Frege's thought that I've read. Kenny covers each major work of Frege in detail with clear explanations of the argument and purpose of each work. There is a brief biographical sketch in the beginning and the book finishes with a summary of Frege's achievements.

This is a good introduction to Frege's philosophy for the general reader and undergraduates. It is fairly accurate, though very uncritical, and doesn't go into too much detail or use too much philosophical jargon (at least not without explaining it). This is a good feature for those unfamiliar with Frege, but if you are already familiar with Frege or analytic philosophy and/or have a good basic knowledge of formal logic, this book will probably not be worth you time. But, let me emphasize once again, if you are just getting started, this is a very good book to start with.

Apart from a couple of typos that will make some of the explanations of Frege's system difficult for those not already familiar with symbolic systems, this is another excellent effort by Anthony Kenny. Unlike his book on Wittgenstein that was much more of a biography, this book really concentrates on the symbolic system. This will be a good read for students studying advanced symbolic or mathematical logic.