A Phenomenology of Race in Frege's Logic

Abstract

This article derives from a project attempting to show that Western formal logic, fromAristotle onward, has both been partially constituted by, and partially constitutive of, what hasbecome known as racism. In the present article, I first discuss, in light of Frege's honorary roleas founder of the philosophy of mathematics, Reuben Hersh's What is Mathematics, Really?Second, I explore how the infamous section of Frege's 1924 diary (specifically the entries fromMarch 10 to April 9) supports Hersh's claim regarding the link between political conservatismand the (historically and currently) dominant school of the philosophy of mathematics, to whichFrege undeniably belongs. Third, I examine Frege's attempt at a more reader-friendly introductionto his philosophy of mathematics, The Foundations of Arithmetic. And finally, I briefly analyzeFrege's Begriffsschrift to see how questions of race arise even at the heights of his logical abstraction.