Frege's Sense and Reference

Frege's concepts of sense and reference distinguish how language relates to the world. The "reference" of a word is the actual thing it points to—for example, the reference of "the current president of the U.S." is Joe Biden. The "sense" is the way the term presents that reference—its meaning or the mental concept associated with it. Sense explains why different expressions can refer to the same thing but still have different meanings (e.g., "the morning star" and "the evening star" both refer to Venus but have different senses). This distinction helps clarify meaning, communication, and how language connects to reality.