Single Idea 18778

[catalogued under 19. Language / B. Reference / 4. Descriptive Reference / a. Sense and reference]

Full Idea

It may perhaps be granted that every grammatically well-formed expression representing a proper name always has a sense. But this is not to say that to this sense there also corresponds a reference.

Gist of Idea

Every descriptive name has a sense, but may not have a reference

Source

Gottlob Frege (On Sense and Reference [1892]), quoted by Bernard Linsky - Quantification and Descriptions 3.1

Book Reference

'Bloomsbury Companion to Philosophical Logic', ed/tr. Horsten,L/Pettigrew,R [Bloomsbury 2014], p.91


A Reaction

Presumably this concerns fictional names such as 'Pegasus'. It seems to be good simple evidence for the distinction between sense and reference.