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:
“Simply because our times are complex, does it follow that our parenting must also be? Must we reject the common sense that what worked so well in the past just because our times are high-tech? We live in such fear of being called “old-fashioned” that we are cutting ourselves off from that which is proven.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“I am more and more convinced that, with reference to any public question, it is more important to know what the country thinks of it than what the city thinks. The city does not think much.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)