Abstract

The paper is devoted to the history of considerations on the denotation of propositions, or on that which is denoted, or described by propositions. n the first part of the paper, aside to the views of ancient authors (Plato, Aristotle, Stoics) concerning this issue, the debate about the existence and nature of the denotation of propositions has been presented. It was alive especially in the later scholastic philosophy (two objectivistic standpoints – among others – Gregory of Rimini, and one subjectivistic). The second part of the paper discusses the position of modern and contemporary authors, i.e. two ways with which the question of the denotation of propositions was reconstructed in the 19th century, the so-called Brentano’s schools (Twardowski, Meinong), Frege’s thought and his followers. The texts of many authors have been analysed in order to present (and compare) all the more important views in the question of the denotation of propositions, starting from antiquity until the contemporary times