Ontological Alternatives

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CustaaBergnann

' I' IIE UNIVER SIT Y OF IVISCONSIN PRESS r\t.\r)tsox 1964

oNTolocrcArr ALTERNATTvES

Ontological Alternatiues* recent essayl Dr. Egidi, stating rvhat she takes to be Fregcr,s T* ^ ontology, sterts from and usesthroughout as a foil *-hat in a'otri.r. I J- s55ay2r ha'e said about Fregc. she holds that Irrege is an iclealis{, takes me to hold that lie is a nominarist. ,\s I usc ,nomir]alism,, I,'rcgt,is not a nominalist' Nor did I ever say that rre rvas o^e. r merely tried t, shorv tliat there is i' the very struct.rc of his o.torogy a i.r.,r.rr,,.. torvard nominalism. That makes thc title of my cssay,,,ri..g.'. rliclck,rr Nominalism," suggcstivc rather tlia' accurate. I' spitc ol ri-riat l)r.. Egidi says, I still believe that the nominalistic tcndency is unmi.striliably therc. Nor lras she cou'i'ced me that Frege is an icrearist.Srr. has, horvever, sho*-'very co'l'i'cingll'rvhat r, Ior on", had not sc.rr as clearly as shc does,namell', that thcre is also an urimistakable .strrrr.tural tendc'cy to*'ard idearism i' rrrege's ontorogl'. 1l1.,-s,if r *-cr. asked to choosefor her essaya titlc as suggesti'e and as exaggeratctrrrs mine, I rvould call it ,,Frege,s Hidclen Idealism.,, Those lvho are mercly clerrer sometimes cliscor-er tenclcnciesn.hir,lr are not thcre. Those rvho disce'r hidclen terde'cies rvhich are th.r.r, think structurally and, sometims.s,profoundly. In my judgment I)r.. Egidi's essay is of a profu'ctity thai dcse^.es high praise. 1-et I alr,, judge much of what she says to be radically mi.staken.Becauseof trics. mistakes she makcs an idealist out of l'r'ege. Hcr mistakes reflcct tlr. idealistic ambiencethat has'ourishecl L... bo she shoulcl'ot be bla.r,rl * r'his is the English original o! "Arternatiueontorogiche:Rispostaalra ])rl tores-sa-Egidi," which appearetr in. Giornarecritico delra Filosofiartaliana, 1,',

I : t t ; 3 . , r ' n , r O b y p e r m issio n . r" L a c o r r s i s t e n z a F ilo so fica d e lla L o g ica d i F r e ge,,, Gi ornare C ri ti co dti l ,t I t ilou t f t a I t a l i a n a , 1 6, 1 9 6 2 , r g 4 - 2 0 g . se e a r so h e r ,,trIatcmati ca, rogi ca e {;r. s . f i. . o l l ' o p e r a d i Go ttlo b F r e g e ,,, p h ysis,4 , 1 9 6 2 , 5_32. The essri ,s r.i l l t,,. r: ilc rl l s C F L F a n d \{ L F F , r e sp e ctivclv. ? "lrr.ge's Hidden p h ito so p h ica l No m in llism ,,, R eui ew , 67, l g5g, 4B T i \l S c r' :r l s o " I ) r o p o s i t i o n al tr u n ctio n s,' , An a lysis,1 7 , fg b 6, 43_4g.

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for them too scverely. Those rvho knorv horv difficult metaphysics is tlso knorv that, since its core is dialectical,there is ngthirlg paradoxical about judging an cssay in metaphysics to be both profound arrd profoundly mistaken. Dr. Egidi, I just said, makes an idealist out of l'regc. Tliis is not rlttite accurate and the inaccuracy is of a sort to rvhich one as comInitted as she is to accurate intellectual biography might rvell objcct. l,)xplicitly'she merely claims that Frege's renovation of logic and, inscparably from it, his anaiysis of the simple clause 'a is F' is implicitly i