Single Idea 8164

[catalogued under 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 5. Fregean Semantics]

Full Idea

Frege was the first to construct a plausible theory of meaning, that is, a theory of how a human language functions.

Gist of Idea

Frege was the first to construct a plausible theory of meaning

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (On Sense and Reference [1892]) by Michael Dummett - Thought and Reality 1

Book Reference

Dummett,Michael: 'Thought and Reality (Gifford Lectures)' [OUP 2006], p.10


A Reaction

Presumably Frege had an advantage because he was the first to distinguish sense from reference, and hence to identify the subject-matter of the theory. Essentially Frege's theory is that of truth-conditions.