Conteúdo cognitivo e sentido em Frege

Abstract

In this article we will investigate the origins and purpose of the fregean distinction between sense and reference, with special attention to the case of singular terms. Our purpose is to establish the reason(s) that prompted Frege to change his mind vis-a-vis his 1879’s position, represented in his Begriffsschrift, and to finally draw his famous distinction, so notorious within all analytic philosophical literature. As a second goal, subsidiary to the first one, we propose to carefully examine in this article some passages relevant to the proper construal of his distinction, about which we believe there is still some remaining controversy. We will suggest that, at least in one specific passage, the existing translations, both in English and in Portuguese, were not fully adequate to the intuitions of the German philosopher and mathematician.