ABSTRACT
The present paper provides an analysis of some key-concepts of Lotze’s Logik, with a special focus on the notions of “idea” and “concept.” In a direct confrontation with Heidegger and Frege, we will aim at showing that what is truly at stake in Lotze’s separation between thought and representations is not merely the objectivity of the former in opposition to the subjectivity of the latter (as originally thought by M. Dummett), but rather the very concept of “synthesis” understood as characterizing the activity or essence of thought. After a first section dedicated to a meticulous analysis of Lotze’s terminology, the essay will move on to the issue of concept-formation; finally, a reading of Frege’s famous text known as 17 Key Sentences on Logic will be provided.
