Abstract
This paper examines two arguments againstpsychologism advanced by Frege andHusserl. The first argument says that thelaws of logic cannot be justified by thelaws of psychology, because the formerand a priori and certain, but the latterare probable only. The second argumentpoints out that the status of logicallaws as universal principles of thinking isnot intelligible on the psychologisticinterpretation of logic. The author tries toshow how to examine both arguments bymetalogical devices.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Føllesdal, D.: 1982, Husserl und Frege: Ein Beitrag zur Beleuchtung der Enstehung der phänomenologische Philosophie, Aschehoug, Oslo.
Føllesdal, D.: 1982a, 'Husserl's Conversion from Psychologism and the Vorstellung-Meaning-Reference Distinction: Two Separate Issues [Response to Mohanty 1982], in H. L. Dreyfuss and H. Hall (eds.), Husserl, Intentionality and Cognitive Science, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Frege, G.: 1884, Grundlagen der Arithmetik, eine logisch-mathematische Untersuchung über den Begriff der Zahl, Wilhelm Koebner, Breslau; Eng. tr. (by J. L. Austin), The Foundations of Arithmetic, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1950, sec. rev. edition, 1953.
Frege, G.: 1893, Grundgesetze der Arithmetik, begrifsschriftlich abgeleitet, v. I, Hermann Pohle, Jena; partial Eng. tr. (by M. Furth), The Basic Laws of Arithmetic. Exposition of the System, University of California Press, Los Angeles and Berkeley.
Frege, G.: 1918, ‘Der Gedanke’, Beiträge zur Philosophie der deutschen Idealismus 1, 289–311.
Frege, G.: 1969, Nachgelassene Schriften und wissenschaftlicher Briefwechsel, v. I, ed. by H. Hermes, F. Kambartel and F. Kaulbach with the assistance of G. Gabriel and W. Rödding, Felix Meiner, Hamburg; abridged Eng. tr. (by P. Long and R. White with the assistance of R. Hargreaves), Posthoumus Writings, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1979.
Grzegorczyk, A.: 1997, Logic-A Human Affair, Scholar, Warszawa.
Husserl, E.: 1900, Logische Untersuchungen, v. I., Max Niemeyer, Halle; sec. rev. edition, 1913; Eng. tr. (by J. N. Findlay from 2nd edition), Logical Investigations, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Kusch, M.: 1995, Psychologism. A Case Study in the Sociology of Philosophical Knowledge, Routledge, London.
Łukasiewicz, J.: 1907, ‘Logika a psychologia’ (Logic and Psychology), Przegl¸ad Filozoficzny X(1907), 489–491; repr. in J. Łukasiewicz, Z zagadnie´n logiki i filozofii (Problems of Logic and Philosophy), Pa´nstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa, 1961, pp. 63-65.
Łukasiewicz, J.: 1929, Elementy logiki matematycznej, Nakladem Komisji Wydawniczej Kola Matematyczno-Fizycznego Sluchaczów Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 1929; Eng. tr. (by O. Wojtasiewicz), Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1963.
Łukasiewicz, J.: 1957, Aristotle's Syllogistic from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Macnamara, J.: 1986, A Border Place Dispute Place of Logic in Psychology, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Mohanty, J. N.: 1982, ‘Husserl and Frege: A New Look at Their Relationship’, in H. L. Dreyfuss and H. Hall (eds.), Husserl, Intentionality and Cognitive Science, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Mohanty, J. N.: 1982a, Husserl and Frege, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Moog, W.: 1919, Logik, Psychologie und Psychologismus, Max Niemeyer, Halle.
Notturno, M. (ed.): 1989, Perspectives on Psychologism, Brill, Leiden.
Palágyi, M.: 1902, Der Streit der Psychologisten und Formalisten in der modernen Logik, Engelmann, Leipzig.
Pulkkinen, J.: 1994, The Threat of Logical Mathematism. A Study on the Critique of Mathematical Logic in Germany at the Turn of the 20th Century, Peter Lang, Bern.
Rath, M.: 1994, Der Psychologismusstreit in der deutschen Philosophie, Karl Alber, Freiburg.
Sluga, H.: 1980, Gottlob Frege, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Wole´nski, J.: 1998, ‘Logic from a Metalogical Point of View’, in E. Orlowska (ed.), Logic at Work. Essays Dedicated to the Memory of Helena Rasiowa, Physica-Verlag A Springer Verlag Company, Berlin 1998, ss. 25–35.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Woleński, J. Psychologism and Metalogic. Synthese 137, 179–193 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026291203636
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026291203636