Editing Semantics (section)

=== Sense and reference ===
[[File:Wismar Marienkirche Bronzebüste Gottlob Frege (01-1).JPG|alt=Bust of Gottlob Frege|thumb|upright=0.7|The distinction between sense and reference was first introduced by the philosopher [[Gottlob Frege]].{{sfn|Zalta|2022|loc=§ 1. Frege’s Life and Influences, § 3. Frege’s Philosophy of Language}}]]

Meaning is often analyzed in terms of [[sense and reference]],<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Griffiths|Cummins|2023|pp=7–9}} | {{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=526}} | {{harvnb|Saeed|2009|p=46}} }}</ref> also referred to as [[intension and extension]] or [[connotation]] and [[denotation]].<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=527}} | {{harvnb|Griffiths|Cummins|2023|pp=7–9}} }}</ref> The referent of an expression is the object to which the expression points. The sense of an expression is the way in which it refers to that object or how the object is interpreted. For example, the expressions ''[[Venus|morning star]]'' and ''evening star'' refer to the same planet, just like the expressions ''2 + 2'' and ''3 + 1'' refer to the same number. The meanings of these expressions differ not on the level of reference but on the level of sense.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=526}} | {{harvnb|Griffiths|Cummins|2023|pp=7–9}} }}</ref> Sense is sometimes understood as a mental phenomenon that helps people identify the objects to which an expression refers.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Marti|1998|loc=Lead Section}} | {{harvnb|Riemer|2010|pp=27–28}} }}</ref> Some semanticists focus primarily on sense or primarily on reference in their analysis of meaning.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Riemer|2010|pp=25–28}} | {{harvnb|Griffiths|Cummins|2023|pp=7–9}} }}</ref> To grasp the full meaning of an expression, it is usually necessary to understand both to what entities in the world it refers and how it describes them.<ref>{{harvnb|Cunningham|2009|p=531}}</ref>

The distinction between sense and reference can explain [[Equation|identity statements]], which can be used to show how two expressions with a different sense have the same referent. For instance, the sentence "the morning star is the evening star" is informative and people can learn something from it. The sentence "the morning star is the morning star", by contrast, is an uninformative [[Tautology (language)|tautology]] since the expressions are identical not only on the level of reference but also on the level of sense.<ref>{{harvnb|Marti|1998|loc=Lead Section}}</ref>