Reference by Abstraction

According to Frege, criteria of identity have an important role to play in the explanation of reference. This chapter develops a version of this Fregean idea in detail. A language community is described whose speakers behave precisely as if they were referring to abstract letter types. The speakers should, it is argued, be interpreted as making and achieving such reference. This semantic interpretation is permissible because this sort of reference should be accepted in the metalanguage as well. The most distinctive aspect of the account is its emphasis on the idea that the abstract objects in question are “metaphysically lightweight” or thin.