Dewi Trebaul (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne): "Introducing logical notions: Frege and the pragmatic challenge of elucidations"

May 30th, 2025. 3:00 pm.

Venue: Carlos Santamaria Zentroa, room 2.

Abstract:

In working out his ideography, whose aim was to devise an explicit setting for the exposition of mathematical demonstrations, using only logical resources, Frege apparently leaves aside pragmatical aspects of communication. If nothing in his formalized language corresponds to the interactions between speaker and hearer, it appears however that Frege was highly concerned with making his project understandable to his readers. To this effect he engaged in many pre-systematic explanations that reflect on the differences between natural language and the specifically oriented concept-script towards the presentation of fundamental arithmetical proofs.

The concept-script, as a new tool, requires introducing new logical notions. He resorts to what he calls « elucidations » (Erläuterungen), that play the role of pragmatic devices towards a common understanding. A shared language is used to secure a definite meaning to terms meant to serve as the basis of a systematic science.

We will try to present a general account of elucidations in Frege’s texts, focusing on the following three questions : If elucidations are devoid of a theoretical status, can they nevertheless be characterized as following rules ? Does the analysis in terms of speech acts offer insights into Frege’s way of proceeding ? How are we to interpret the fact that we cannot dispense with elucidations ?