Frege: The Invisible Anti-Semite

It is a little known fact that the German philosopher was a hard-core right-wing, anti-democrat, anti-liberal, racist, nationalist anti-Semite. While he died before the rise of Hitler, one can only speculate how he would’ve responded.

Gottlob Frege is considered one of the founders of contemporary analytic philosophy. Revered by Russell and Wittgenstein, he laid substantial groundwork for predicate logic and the analysis of linguistic meaning. Yet, unlike Russell and Wittgenstein, Frege’s personality and private life was little publicized and is little known. While his work was widely influential, he himself was not.

In the relative obscurity of his private life, it is a little known fact that the German philosopher was a hard-core right-wing, anti-democrat, anti-liberal, racist, nationalist anti-Semite. While he died before the rise of Hitler, one can only speculate how he would’ve responded.

This excellent article by Ray Monk in Prospect Magazine discusses Frege, his work, and his startling private life: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/philosophy/the-machine-in-the-ghost