In Sense, Reference, and Philosophy, Jerrold J. Katz develops the philosophical implications of an autonomous theory of sense. On Katz's intensionalism, sense is divorced from reference; sense mediates, but does not determine, reference. Katz argues that his theory of "thin" senses accomplishes all and only what a theory of meaning should be responsible for: representations of the sense structure of the smallest meaning-bearing elements of a language (its morphemes); a dictionary; a set of compositional principles to form the meanings of sentences; and definitions of sense properties and relations such as synonymy. The theory of reference, Katz argues, will be related to the theory of sense via a system of referential correlates.

In Sense, Reference, and Philosophy, Katz provides a modern interpretation of the insights of philosophers like Descartes, Kant, Locke, Mill, and G. E. Moore and thereby resets the agenda for current analytic philosophy. The scope and rigor of this book will make it of interest to a broad range of philosophers.