# Frege — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus character guide

> Frege in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0004-tractatus-logico-philosophicus

## Who they are

Foundational figure in logic and philosophy of language.

## Relationships

### [Bertrand Russell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/characters/bertrand_russell)

_professional_

Russell and Frege are colleagues and correspondents in the development of logic and the foundations of mathematics, with mutual respect but also critical engagement.

## In the story

### [Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/tractatus-logico-philosophicus)

Referenced implicitly through the discussion of logical form and the sense/reference distinction.

### [3.143](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/3-143)

Mentioned as having mistakenly called a proposition a compounded name due to the concealment of the propositional sign's factual nature.

### [3.318](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/3-318)

Mentioned as one of the thinkers whose conception of the proposition Wittgenstein adopts.

### [3.325](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/3-325)

His logical symbolism is cited as an example that approaches but does not fully achieve the ideal of excluding all errors.

### [4.063](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-063)

Referenced for his terminology of truth-value and his view that 'is true' or 'is false' are predicates of a proposition, which Wittgenstein criticizes.

### [4.1272](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-1272)

Mentioned as one who mistakenly treated formal concepts as functions or classes.

### [4.1273](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-1273)

Mentioned as one who overlooked the formal concept of the general term of a formal series.

### [4.431](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-431)

Critiqued for his false explanation of the truth-concept, treating 'the true' and 'the false' as objects.

### [4.442](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-442)

Criticized for his assertion sign, which Wittgenstein deems logically meaningless.

### [5.02](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-02)

Criticized for confusing argument and index in his theory of meaning.

### [5.132](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-132)

Mentioned as one who uses laws of inference to justify conclusions.

### [5.4](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-4)

Mentioned as one of the philosophers whose conception of logical constants is being rejected.

### [5.42](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-42)

Mentioned in context of logical primitive signs

### [5.451](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-451)

Referenced for his work 'Grundgesetze der Arithmetik' on the introduction of signs by definitions, applied analogously to primitive signs.

### [5.4733](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-4733)

Frege's view that every legitimately constructed proposition must have a sense is directly addressed and contrasted with Wittgenstein's own position.

### [5.521](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/5-521)

Introduced generality in connection with logical product or sum, according to Wittgenstein.

### [6.1271](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/6-1271)

Frege's primitive propositions and his appeal to self-evidence are discussed and critiqued.

### [6.232](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/6-232)

Frege's view on meaning and sense is referenced and critiqued.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/characters/frege
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/characters