Semiotica 188–1/4 (2012), 29 – 50 0037–1998/12/0188–0029 DOI 10.1515/sem-2012-0002 © Walter de Gruyter Meaning between sense and reference: Impacts of semiotics on philosophy of science EVANDRO AGAZZI Abstract Modern philosophy of science was characterized as an analysis of the lan- guage of science based on mathematical logic. The formalistic perspective re- garding mathematics and logic (which were conceived as linguistic construc- tions “devoid of meaning”) had to be corrected when applied to empirical theories. These were presented as formal system to which their intended mean- ing is granted through an “interpretation” (refecting the fact that the initial “syntactic” view had been integrated in mathematical logic by the elaboration of “semantics”). But what is the meaning of a linguistic expression? The se- mantics of mathematical logic (model theory) identifes meaning with the ref- erents of the expression. However, Frege had recovered an ancient distinction specifying that sense and reference are two different constituents of meaning, and the identifcation of meaning with sense has become widespread in the philosophy of language. Both positions are one-sided and entail diffculties that have affected the analytical philosophy of science. The aim of this paper is to recover the importance of a “three level semantics” (sign-sense-reference) and discuss other related notions (such as intension-extension), by pointing out the operational and not just linguistic or mental nature of reference. This has also consequences regarding the ontological purport of the different sciences. Keywords: formalism; semantics; meaning; sense; reference; intension; extension 1. The modern model of philosophy of science 1.1. Philosophy of science as a specialized feld of philosophy Refections on science have been common throughout the history of philoso- phy. First of all, this is because the concept of science (or episteme) has been Brought to you by | University of Birmingham Authenticated Download Date | 6/4/15 9:52 AM