Frege on the Indefinability of Truth

Abstract

One of Frege's most original insights is the claim that the concept of truth is simple and indefinable. This paper seeks to show how Frege reached that doctrine and what role it plays in his thinking. It then goes on to confront Frege's argumentation with Tarski's theory of truth and concludes that, far from being made obsolete by Tarski, these arguments remain of the greatest significance for understanding the philosophical problem of truth.