Sense and Reference

Sense And Reference

Sinn and bedeutung are usually translated, respectively, as sense and reference. Two different aspects of some terms' meanings, a term's reference is the object to which the term refers, while the term's sense is the way that the term refers to that object.

Sinn and Bedeutung were introduced by German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in his 1892 paper "Über Sinn und Bedeutung" ("On sense and reference"). Frege applied Bedeutung mainly to proper names and, in lesser extent, to sentences.

Though the distinction resides in philosophy of language, it enters philosophy's other areas, including philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and metaethics.

Read more about Sense And Reference:  Motivation For and Development of The Distinction, Sense Without Reference, Relation To Connotation and Denotation

Famous quotes containing the words sense and/or reference:

    In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

    I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things. It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to another book, and that to successive others. It is incredible, the number of books you hopefully open and disappointedly close, only to take down another with the same result.
    Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)