Dependent Variables and Denotation [1903]
Alasdair Urquhart · 2024
These manuscript notes on foundational aspects of the theory of denotation were written in July 1903. The examples used in the paper which refer to Pope Leo XIII were clearly evoked by his dramatic death. The Pope fell ill on 3 July 1903, and died on 20 July 1903; since the notes refer to the Pope as still alive, they must have been written during the weeks of his terminal illness. The paper deals with the meaning and denotation of expressions as they occur in the functional theory of 1903; the distinction between meaning and denotation is similar to that of Frege.