[FOM] The Irrelevance of definite descriptions in the Slingshot Argument?

[Richard Heck]

Michael Kremer wrote:
> Hartley Slater,
>
> Where does Frege himself use the slingshot argument?
>
> --Michael Kremer
>   
I'd just like to take a moment to second this question. It seems to be
something akin to the "common wisdom" that the slingshot traces to
Frege. So far as I know, however, there is nothing in Frege's writings
that is remotely like Goedel's slingshot. Neale, as Hartley notes, makes
a few remarks concerning Frege, but he also remarks on "the difficulty
in attributing the argument to Frege" (/Mind/ 104 (1995), pp. 761-825,
at p. 763) and doesn't do so himself.

I suspect that the confusion goes back to Church.

Richard Heck

-- 
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Richard G Heck, Jr
Professor of Philosophy
Brown University
http://bobjweil.com/heck/
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