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Hintikka on the “Kant–Frege View”: A Critical Assessment

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Abstract

In “Kant on Existence, Predication, and the Ontological Argument” (1981), Hintikka argues that the so-called “Kant–Frege view” (i.e., the claim that Kant is a forerunner of Frege’s treatment of existence) is wrong, for its supporters erroneously assume that for Kant ‘is’ is ambiguous. In this paper, I will first critically evaluate Hintikka’s arguments against the Kant–Frege view. Then, I will attempt to prove that Kant’s claim that existence is not a real predicate and Frege’s claim that existence is a quantifier are in fact logically interdependent. Finally, I will use the Kant–Frege view in order to reconcile the various claims that Kant makes about existence.

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Mion, G. Hintikka on the “Kant–Frege View”: A Critical Assessment. Log. Univers. 13, 171–178 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-018-0198-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-018-0198-3

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