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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Frege and the Distinction between Science, Literature and Philosophy

Awarded: NOK 2.9 mill.

So far, the project has had results within four areas: 1) A paper that focuses on questions concerning the status of Frege's philosophical writings (paper nr 1 in this report) has been submitted to an internationally renowned journal. Paper nr 2 in this report, a paper on Frege, Wittgenstein and the distinction between science and philosophy, has also been submitted to an internationally renowned journal. Another paper that focuses on Frege's view of language acquisition and differences between natural languages and his concept-script was published in Norsk Filosofisk Tidskrift in December 2013. My work on paper nr 3, a paper on Frege's conception of rationality, understanding and metaphor, has resulted in a nearly finished version with the title "Frege on Dichtung and Philosophy" which was presented at the international workshop "Frege zwischen Dichtung and Wissenschaft" at the University of Bergen, December 5-6 2014. The paper will either be submitted to an internationally acknowledged journal, or be published the anthology that might result from the workshop. My work on paper nr 4 is progressing well and the paper will be submitted in the year of 2015 to an internationally renowned journal. 2) The research stay at Boston University, from January 1 to the end of June 2011, made it possible for me to have discussions with one of the project's partners, Professor Juliet Floyd, on a regular basis. These discussions, focused on problems and questions that are central to the project, have been of great importance to the progression of my work. During the research stay, I participated in the weekly Wittgenstein Workshop at Boston University that was hosted by Professor Floyd and visited by international scholars. The topics that were dealt with at the workshop were directly relevant to main themes and problems of my research project. The possibility to participate in the workshop has been of immense importance for my work on problems that are connected to the distinction between philosophy, science and literature. In the spring of 2014 I have worked on the project as a visiting scholar at the Department of Philosophy at Uppsala University. During the research stay in Uppsala, my work has greatly benefitted from discussions with researchers work in fields that are closely related to those that are central to this project. The research stay in Uppsala has also provided the opportunity to participate in the weekly research seminar in philosophy of culture and language. The interesting seminar with lively discussions and the topics that are discussed have brought new perspectives on the questions dealt with in the project. 3.) On April 25, 2011 I gave a talk at the Wittgenstein Workshop at Boston University on the relation between Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and Frege's conception of 'elucidation'. My work has benefitted greatly from the suggestions and criticism that was brought forth by those present at the workshop. On May 8, 2013, I gave a talk at the International Wittgenstein Workshop at the University of East Anglia, by an invitation from senior lecturer Oskari Kuusela. The discussion that followed my talk has been valuable to my work. My work on the project has also greatly benefitted from discussions with Dr. Kuusela that the journey to Norwich made possible. On June 15, 2013 an international workshop on "Wittgenstein and the Creativity of Language" was organized at the University of Bergen by J. Macha (Brno) and S. Greve (London) under the auspices of the Wittgenstein Archives. My talk at this workshop centered on questions that concern Frege's and Wittgenstein's appeal to something animal or primitive in their discussions of language acquisition (see: http://www.uib.no/en/fof/31233/wittgenstein-and-creativity-language). In November the same year, I gave a talk on Frege, Wittgenstein and St. Augustine's view of language acquisition at a seminar organized by Bergensnettverket for kvinner i filosofi. In April 2014 I was invited by Professor Rider to present my work at the Research seminar in Philosophy of Culture and Language. The title of my talk was "Frege on Philosophy and Poetry". I was also invited to present my work at international workshop on Frege organized by Einar D. Bøhn at IFIKK, UiO, in May 2014. In August the same year, I presented a talk with the title "On Saying Nothing: Wittgenstein's conception of the right method of philosophy" at the International symposium "Analytical and Continental Philosophy: Methods and Perspectives". The work on this talk and the paper that was published in the proceedings to this symposium forms part of the work towards a final version of paper nr.4 in this report. 4) My work has been directed towards the realization of a workshop that is centered on questions that are at the core of the project, and the international workshop "Frege zwischen Dichtung and Wissenschaft" took place at the University of Bergen, Dec. 5-6 2014.

An overall aim of the project is to explore opposite conceptions of philosophy, and in particular to discuss conflicting views on what is considered ideal forms of discourse for philosophical investigations. The angle of approach that will be used is an i nvestigation of the notion of an ideal language for science, as it is found in the work of the German mathematician, philosopher and logician Gottlob Frege (1848-1925). As one of the originators of analytic philosophy, Frege has played a key role in the d evelopment of this tradition. It is often taken for granted that Frege subscribes to the conception of philosophy-as-science, and it appears that he gives science an all-embracing status. The project aims to investigate main thoughts in Frege's work and t he way in which it is related to the conception of philosophy that the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) develops. An important goal will be to make it clear that Frege's position with regard to the conception of philosophy-as-science a nd the conception of philosophy-as-literature is more complicated than what is often assumed, and further to show that looking at Frege's work in relation to conflicting conceptions of philosophy can contribute to our understanding of the relation between philosophy, science and literature. It will also be a goal to explore the relation between Frege's understanding of the distinction between scientific and non-scientific discourse, and the demarcation between science and philosophy that Wittgenstein make s. It is ordinarily assumed that Wittgenstein's clear separation of philosophy and science marks a break between him and Frege who is sometimes described as a scientist. I will instead work with the assumption that there are lines of continuity from the w ay in which Frege draws this distinction to main aspects of Wittgenstein's later philosophy that have not been thoroughly investigated.

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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam