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The phrase "Bestande des Gedankens" is differently translated as (A) "the make-up of a thought" or (B) "the being of a thought" in the context of the following passage:

Wir können durch unser Urteilen am Bestande des Gedankens nichts ändern. Wir können nur anerkennen, was ist. Einem wahren Gedanken können wir durch unser Urteilen nichts anhaben. Wir können in dem ihn ausgedrückenden Satze ein "nicht" einfügen und dadurch einen Satz erhalten, der, wie dargelegt worden ist, keinen Ungedanken enthält, sondern als Bedingungssatz oder Folgesatz in einem hypotetischen Satzgefüge seine volle Berechtingung haben kann. Weil er falsch ist, darf er nur nicht mit behauptender Kraft ausgesprochen werden. Jener erste Gedanke aber wird durch diesen Vorgang ganz unberührt gelassen. Er bleibt wahr wie vorher.

(It's from Gottlob Frege's 1918 manuscript "Die Verneinung"). Cassell's dictionary from 1906, however, does not mention any meaning of "Bestand" similar to "make-up" any other noun that would indicate some structural features.

My question is: Is the (A) translation simply mistaken, or there is some turn of phrase that justifies it?

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  • From a literal viewpoint, yes, (b) is a "wrong" translation. But considering a thought can never be a static thing, but rather is a temporary action, "make-up" can't be that wrong.
    – tofro
    Oct 24, 2021 at 7:46
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    It is impossible to talk seriously about a single sentence in a philosophical essay without knowing the text as a whole. You should at least provide a full paragraph.
    – Olafant
    Oct 24, 2021 at 9:58
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    @tofro Thanks for the comment, but Fregean "thoughts" are not thoughts informally conceived; they are not actions, but rather objective contents which can be grasped and judged.
    – fr_
    Oct 24, 2021 at 10:27
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    @Olafant I included it in the edit.
    – fr_
    Oct 24, 2021 at 10:38
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    Translation A seems to have interpreted Bestand in the sense of bestehen aus "consist of", a meaning which the noun doesn't have.
    – David Vogt
    Oct 24, 2021 at 19:21

1 Answer 1

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You don't provide a reference to translation a), which I would consider as wrong.

Actually Bestand reflects a very stable state (compare the phrase Bestand haben,) while make-up would probably be phrased as Vorstellung, Unterstellung, Hypothese or similar.

I find being as translation also a bit weak, because it does not contribute much to the aspect of persistence. In the restricted context given I would translate Frege's sentence as:

We can't change existence/persistence of the thought by our judgement.

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  • Thanks - that stands in line with Cassell! Translation is (A) is by Peter Geach, and it's the only published English translation of "Die Verneinung" from "Collected Papers" [1984], Brian McGuinness (ed.) (also reprinted in "The Frege Reader" [1997], Michael Beaney (ed.)). Translation (B) is from Mark Textor's paper "Frege on Judging as Acknowledging the Truth” in Mind 119 (475).
    – fr_
    Oct 23, 2021 at 21:33
  • Make-up would be Zusammensetzung.
    – David Vogt
    Oct 24, 2021 at 19:21

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