On the standard interpretation, Gottlob Frege offers important, if
not always unproblematic, answers to problems that still bother us
today.  This interpretation gives us a philosophical hero, a
philosopher of astonishing insight and prescience who set a large
part of an agenda that still guides philosophical investigation.
But, for all the insight and prescience ascribed to Frege by the
standard interpretation, this interpretation also requires us to
ascribe astonishing blunders to him.  The standard response is to
regard them as inexplicable mistakes on Frege’s part and to
concentrate, instead, on the indisputably valuable contributions.

But another interpretation is available.  We can avoid attributing
absurdities or gratuitous blunders to Frege if we give up the
assumption that his worries and projects are the worries and
projects traditionally attributed to him. There are other reasons to
adopt this strategy.  For even if we ignore the apparent blunders,
there are many respects in which the standard interpretation does
not fit Frege’s texts.

This class will be organized around three related topics.  First,
what was Frege trying to do?  Second, how have his writings, under
the standard interpretation, influenced the direction of
philosophical thought?  And finally, what are the results of
abandoning the standard interpretation?  If we opt for an lternative
on which Frege did not make inexplicable blunders, are there any
lessons to be learned for our approach to contemporary philosophical
problems?

Course requirements will include 4 very short (1-2 page) papers, to
be written in the first few weeks of class, one short (4-5 page)
paper due around the middle of the term and a final paper, to be
handed in on the last day of class.