Special Topics in the History of Philosophy: Stoics, Frege, Plagiarism

The subject of this course is the close relationship between themes in philosophical logic and philosophy of language in Frege's later work and the early Stoics. The course offers an introduction to the main elements of Stoic logic and linguistic theory and to Frege's late papers (esp. 'Thought', 'Negation', 'Compound Thought') and their parallels in his posthumous work. We juxtapose and contrast these theories and consider the considerable methodological difficulties that arise when one compares philosophical works form very different eras and cultures.