Jamie Tappenden (Uni. Michigan): "Johann Herbart and the Interpretation of Frege's Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik"

Abstract

Several Frege scholars, notably Gottfried Gabriel and David Sullivan, have pointed out that the early nineteenth century philosopher / education theorist Johann Herbart was a prominent figure in Frege's Jena environment, and that Herbart's influence can be detected in Frege's classic work Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik. This paper pushes these observations farther to show that Herbart's influence can be found in both the arguments and the argumentative structure of the book in profound and surprising ways.