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Single Idea 16379

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 9. Indexical Thought ]

Full Idea

When Dr Lauben thinks he has been wounded, ..only Dr Lauben can grasp thoughts determined in this way. But he cannot communicate a thought which only he can grasp. To say 'I have been wounded' he must use 'I' in a sense graspable by others.

Gist of Idea

Thoughts about myself are understood one way to me, and another when communicated

Source

Gottlob Frege (The Thought: a Logical Enquiry [1918]), quoted by François Recanati - Mental Files 16.1

Book Ref

Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.209


A Reaction

[compressed] This seems to be the first, and very influential, attempt to explain the unusual and revealing semantics of indexicals. It seems to be the ultimate source of 2-D semantics, by introducing two modes of meaning for one term.


The 13 ideas from 'The Thought: a Logical Enquiry'

There exists a realm, beyond objects and ideas, of non-spatio-temporal thoughts [Frege, by Weiner]
Thoughts have their own realm of reality - 'sense' (as opposed to the realm of 'reference') [Frege, by Dummett]
A thought is distinguished from other things by a capacity to be true or false [Frege, by Dummett]
Thoughts about myself are understood one way to me, and another when communicated [Frege]
Late Frege saw his non-actual objective objects as exclusively thoughts and senses [Frege, by Dummett]
The word 'true' seems to be unique and indefinable [Frege]
There cannot be complete correspondence, because ideas and reality are quite different [Frege]
A 'thought' is something for which the question of truth can arise; thoughts are senses of sentences [Frege]
The property of truth in 'It is true that I smell violets' adds nothing to 'I smell violets' [Frege]
We grasp thoughts (thinking), decide they are true (judgement), and manifest the judgement (assertion) [Frege]
Thoughts in the 'third realm' cannot be sensed, and do not need an owner to exist [Frege]
A fact is a thought that is true [Frege]
A sentence is only a thought if it is complete, and has a time-specification [Frege]