Full Idea
If the appearance of reference can be misleading, why cannot an apparent lack of reference be misleading?
Gist of Idea
If apparent reference can mislead, then so can apparent lack of reference
Source
Crispin Wright (Frege's Concept of Numbers as Objects [1983], 2.xi)
Book Reference
Wright,Crispin: 'Frege's Conception of Numbers' [Scots Philosophical Monographs 1983], p.88
A Reaction
A nice simple thought. Analytic philosophy has concerned itself a lot with sentences that seem to refer, but the reference can be analysed away. For me, this takes the question of reference out of the linguistic sphere, which wasn't Wright's plan.