more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
For Frege, a predicate does not refer to the objects of which it is true, but to the function that maps these objects onto the True and False; ..a predicate is a name for this function.
Gist of Idea
For Frege, predicates are names of functions that map objects onto the True and False
Source
report of Gottlob Frege (works [1890]) by Colin McGinn - Logical Properties Ch.3
Book Ref
McGinn,Colin: 'Logical Properties' [OUP 2003], p.67
A Reaction
McGinn says this is close to the intuitive sense of a property. Perhaps 'predicates are what make objects the things they are?'
| 3300 | Aristotle's logic is based on the subject/predicate distinction, which leads him to substances and properties [Aristotle, by Benardete,JA] |
| 3319 | Frege gives a functional account of predication so that we can dispense with predicates [Frege, by Benardete,JA] |
| 6076 | For Frege, predicates are names of functions that map objects onto the True and False [Frege, by McGinn] |
| 18894 | Predicates form a hierarchy, from the most general, down to names at the bottom [Sommers] |
| 10615 | The Comprehension Schema says there is a property only had by things satisfying a condition [Smith,P] |
| 15651 | Instead of saying x has a property, we can say a formula is true of x - as long as we have 'true' [Halbach] |