The thesis of the transparency of sense according Frege and Dummett

Abstract

We present in the present paper the role of the thesis of the transparency of content in Frege and Dummett's thought, in order to reveal the reasons of these authors to adhere to such thesis. The first part of the text is dedicated to Frege. In this part it is shown that the thesis of transparency underlies Frege's understanding of his criteria for equality of sense, and that the transparency of sense acts as a premise in one of his arguments in favor of the introduction of the notion of sense. The second part is dedicated to Dummett. At first, we shall see how he reconstructed a Fregean argument in favor of the distinction between sense and reference. In this reconstruction, the transparency of meaning is characterized by opposition to the opacity of reference. In the last movement of the text, we describe how, for Dummett, the thesis of transparency must be understood in the light of the equivalence between meaning and knowledge.