Single Idea 18414

[catalogued under 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 9. Indexical Semantics]

Full Idea

Fregeans tend to treat as a fundamental tenet that sense determines reference; same sense, same reference. From that it follow trivially that indexicals don't have the same sense: different uses of 'I' have different referents, so sense must differ.

Gist of Idea

Fregeans say 'I' differs in reference, so it must also differ in sense

Source

Cappelen,H/Dever,Josh (The Inessential Indexical [2013], 04.6)

Book Reference

Cappelen,H/Dever,J: 'The Inessential Indexical' [OUP 2013], p.72


A Reaction

Interesting. Since it seems implausible that 'I' is profoundly different when two people use it, this seems to be a strong argument against Frege's distinction. But I rather like Frege's distinction, while being sceptical about 'I', so I'm baffled....