Fregean senses are associated with a subject-centred rather than ecological view of reality. On this traditional view, intentional content is fixed from inside the mind, via subjects’ grasp of what they are thinking of, rather than by features of their environment.
In recent philosophical debates, this subject-centred perspective has been supported by an unholy alliance of traditional idealism and cognitive scientific methodological solipsism.
Once we free ourselves from the subject-centred perspective, however, it turns out that senses have no explanatory work to do. We do not need them to explain the role of thoughts in cognition and actions; nor to explain the way we attribute thoughts to each other; nor to explain the requirements for successful communication.
