Journal for the History of
Analytical Philosophy
Volume 5, Number 8
Editor in Chief
KevinC.Klement,UniversityofMassachusetts
Editorial Board
AnnalisaColiva,UniversityofModenaandUCIrvine
GregFrost-Arnold,HobartandWilliamSmithColleges
HenryJackman,YorkUniversity
SandraLapointe,McMasterUniversity
ConsueloPreti,TheCollegeofNewJersey
MarcusRossberg,UniversityofConnecticut
AnthonySkelton,WesternUniversity
MarkTextor,King’sCollegeLondon
AudreyYap,UniversityofVictoria
RichardZach,UniversityofCalgary
Review Editors
SeanMorris,MetropolitanStateUniversityofDenver
SanfordShieh,WesleyanUniversity
Design
DanielHarris,HunterCollege
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©2017WalterB.Pedriali
The Logical Significance of Assertion
WalterB.Pedriali
Assertion plays a crucial dual role in Frege’s conception of logic,
a formal and a transcendental one. A recurrent complaint is that
Frege’s inclusion of the judgement-stroke (the formal counter-
part of assertion) in the Begriffsschrift is either in tension with his
anti-psychologism or wholly superfluous. Assertion, the objec-
tion goes, is at best of merely psychological significance. In this
paper, I defend Frege against the objection by giving reasons for
recognising the central logical significance of assertion in both
its formal and its transcendental role.