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Frege, Contextuality and Compositionality

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Abstract

There are two principles which bear the name “Frege'sprinciple:” the principle of compositionality, and the contextprinciple. The aim of this contribution is to investigate whether thisis justified: did Frege accept both principles at the same time, did hehold the one principle but not the other, or did he, at some moment,change his opinion? The conclusion is as follows. There is a developmentin Frege's position. In the period of Grundlagen he followed to a strict form of contextuality. He repeatedcontextuality in later writings, but became less strict. From 1914 on,pushed by the needs of research, he comes close to compositionality. Buthe could never make the final step toward compositionality forprincipled reasons, therefore he always would reject compositionality.

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  1. Computer Science, University of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 24, 1018, TV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Theo M.V. Janssen

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Janssen, T.M. Frege, Contextuality and Compositionality. Journal of Logic, Language and Information 10, 115–136 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026542332224

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