Amediated reference theory[1] (alsoindirect reference theory)[2] is anysemantic theory that posits that words refer to something in the external world, but insists that there is more to the meaning of a name than simply the object to which it refers. It thus stands opposed todirect reference theory.Gottlob Frege is a well-known advocate of mediated reference theories.[2][3] Similar theories were widely held in the middle of the twentieth century by philosophers such asPeter Strawson andJohn Searle.
Saul Kripke, a proponent of direct reference theory, in hisNaming and Necessity dubbed mediated reference theory theFrege–Russell view and criticized it.[4] Subsequent scholarship refuted the claim thatBertrand Russell's views on reference theory were the same as Frege's, since Russell was also a proponent of direct reference theory.[5]