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Full Idea
"The denotation or extension of a term is the class of all actual or existent things which the term correctly applies to or names; the connotation or intension of a term is delimited by any correct definition of it." ..And intension determines extension.
Gist of Idea
Extension is the class of things, intension is the correct definition of the thing, and intension determines extension
Source
C.I. Lewis (An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation [1946]), quoted by Stephen P. Schwartz - Intro to Naming,Necessity and Natural Kinds §II
Book Ref
'Naming, Necessity, and Natural Kinds', ed/tr. Schwartz,Stephen P. [Cornell 1979], p.17
A Reaction
The last part is one of the big ideas in philosophy of language, which was rejected by Putnam and co. If you were to reverse the slogan, though, (to extension determines intension) how would you identify the members of the extension?
| 5828 | Extension is the class of things, intension is the correct definition of the thing, and intension determines extension [Lewis,CI] |
| 4896 | The intension of an expression is a function from possible worlds to an appropriate extension [Perry] |
| 5826 | The intension of "lemon" is the conjunction of properties associated with it [Schwartz,SP] |
| 4063 | In intensional contexts, truth depends on how extensions are conceived. [Crane] |
| 10408 | Intensions are functions which map possible worlds to sets of things denoted by an expression [Swoyer] |