Dummett's Backward Road to Frege and to Intuitionism - Tripod

not a function.” But he starts the paragraph by restricting its scope to the domain of “arguments and
values” (1970b: 32). And three pages earlier, he distinguishes senses from references only to set senses
aside for the rest of the paper (1970b: 29). Thus I have never read these texts as saying that all entities
are objects or functions, though they obviously seem to say that if they are read out of context. The
texts say only that all customary references are objects or functions, and do not say that all entities are,
because in both works the context shows that Frege is taking special care to distinguish senses from
customary references, so as to talk only about customary references.
In The Interpretation of Frege’s Philosophy, Dummett speaks of “Frege, with his classification
of what exists into objects and functions” (1981a: 429). He admits that senses are entities. And he still
rejects Peter Geach’s thesis that incomplete senses are functions (1981a: 251–53). These three points
collectively imply that Dummett still holds that all senses—even incomplete senses—are objects. He
says that Frege “distinguish[es] various kinds of object: logical objects; physical objects; ideas and
other mental contents; rational beings; thoughts and other senses....” (1981a: 429). 25 The rest of the
paragraph confirms he means thoughts and all other senses (1981a: 429, “Still less....”). 1981a (393,
“But, in general...” ) also confirms this. He duly discusses again in what way senses are incomplete
(1981a: 265–70), and seems to take the same way out (1981a: 270).
In light of all this, Dummett’s positive statement that incomplete senses are objects is
surprisingly weak: “on a non-Fregean use of the word ‘concept’ [to mean incomplete sense], it might
be held that ‘the concept of citizenship’ stood for the sense of the word ‘citizen’,” where the singular
definite article indicates an object (1981a: 90, my emphasis). The most he is willing to argue is that:
Since “the sense of the name ‘Mont Blanc’,” and “the thought that the Earth is larger
than the Moon,” and “Pythagoras’s Theorem” do appear to function as what Frege
called “proper names,” there is, for Frege, no question that at least some senses are
42