Sense and Reference in Semantics

Question

Hi eveyone,
I studied that: "The German philosopher Gottlob Frege proposed that the meaning of an expression be called sense, and if the expression refers to something, it has reference" but I cannot understand clearly about it Could you explain something about sense and reference in semantics.
Could you give me two or more expressions which have the same sense and explain about it? And two or more expressions which have the same referent and explain about it?
Plz help me! Thank you very much for helping!
Best wishes, CD

Widget · Accepted Answer

This website:

www.philosophypages.com has a small item about sense / reference. I am unable to C&P it; but it should be searchable. It says "The sense of an expression is the thought it expresses, while its reference is the object it represents. Since the ability to use the term presupposes familiarity with its sense but not knowledge of its reference, statements of identity can be genuinely informative when they link two terms with the same reference but distinct senses, as in 'The husband of Barbara Bush is the President who succeeded Ronald Reagan.'"

Caydinh123 · Answer

Thank Widget very much. Could you say something clearlier?

Widget · Answer

Try this entry in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_reference

"sense and reference are two different aspects of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning of some kinds of terms. A term's reference IS the object it refers to. Its sense is HOW it refers to that object."

For example: 'The husband of Barbara Bush is the President who succeeded Ronald Reagan.'

I guess the Reference is: A [former] President of the USA (George Bush senior);

and the two Senses are:

1. The husband of Barbara Bush; and

2. The man who became President after Ronald Reagan.

CalifJim · Answer

Of the two, reference is the easy one. A referring expression is a word or group of words which represents something in the real world. Reference has to do with the correspondence between word and world.

When I use the words my house I intend for people to understand that those words represent something outside of themselves, that those marks there on the page have a meaning, or that the sounds I make when I utter those words have a meaning. The meaning comes from the fact that the words represent, or symbolize, or indicate, or refer to some real object in the real world. All such correspondences between words and what the words refer to are called references.

Any two expressions which refer to the same thing in the real world have the same referent. The referent is the real world thing indicated by the words.

Suppose my favorite place to buy clothes is Macy's Department Store.

Then the words Macy's Department Store refer to that particular place in the real world, and the words my favorite place to buy clothes refer to that same place in the real world. This is a case where two expressions have the same referent. Just find two or more ways to describe the same thing in different words and you have two or more expressions with the same referent. Family relationships are particularly easy (my aunt, my mother's sister), but many, many other examples can be found (the coldest continent, the southernmost continent, Antarctica, the continent where the South Pole is located).

Note that words like "the house" and "the car" can be referring expressions, but words like "and", "with", "before" and "where" cannot be referring expressions.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

i get a little bit easier to understand your post. it's really helpful. bu could you please give me more explanation. the example is good.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi Anon;

This thread is stale by more than 3 years, and I would have deleted your post, but for the fact that CJ is still very active here.

I read his description on references and referring expressions. It is so clear and thorough that to add more examples would be superfluous.

Can you be more specific in your question?

Anonymous · Answer

Thanku soooooooooooooooooooooo much, i got d point, u explained very well, it really helped me a lottttttttttttttt.. thnx

Anonymous · Answer

your answer help me so much. I,m very greeting with you.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank's a lot for you answer CJ you really helped me

cheers from Algeria
Hich

Anonymous · Answer

me too m searchin g about the deffernces between a refe rence and a meanin  g in makin  g a sense ?

Sense and Reference in Semantics

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