Designata

Designatum, with the plural designata, is a term used in philosophy of language to denote the object that a linguistic expression designates in a given context. It refers to the actual entity that a word or phrase points to, as distinct from its sense (or mode of presentation) and from the linguistic expression itself. In this framing, the designatum is the referent that would be singled out by truth-conditional use of the expression.

The nature of the designatum depends on the type of expression. For a proper name such as Socrates, the designatum is the individual Socrates. For a general term or predicate such as cat, the designata form the extension of the term—the set of all cats. For definite descriptions like “the current president of the United States,” the designatum is the person who satisfies the description at a given time; if no such person exists, there is no designatum. In contexts with indexicals and demonstratives, the designatum can shift with context.

The concept is central to discussions of reference and truth conditions. It helps distinguish what a term refers to (its designatum) from how that reference is presented (its sense or cognitive content). The notion of rigid designators, possible-world semantics, and debates about non-existent or fictional entities all engage with the idea of designata, as philosophers consider whether terms maintain their designata across possible worlds or contexts.

See also: reference and meaning, sense and reference, rigid designator, extension, intentio and significatio.