denotata
The terms denotata and designata are technical terms that crop up in analytic philosophy. Ross assumes the reader will be familiar with the technical use of these terms.
Merriam-Webster’s definition of denotata:
- Actually existing objects referred to by a word, sign, or linguistic expression. [Usually] contrasted with denotatum.
The term designata is less restrictive, since it is a referent of a word, sign or linguistic expression that may or may not actually exist, implying that denotata is a subset of designata.
But Ross sometimes appears to use denotata & designata interchangeably, but that is probably because denotata is a subset of designata, and so in the cases of referents that are real things, the two words are synonyms.
T&W Ch. 1: . Pure formal objects are not obtuse abstractions (with made-up neat features replacing messy real ones) but are pure abstractions constructed for theoretical purposes. They are the denotata of pure theory. They are what the pure theory is about, the denotata of its variables and predicates. Of course, such inventions are usually prompted by abstraction from our experience. Formal truth does not depend on there being any particular material objects, even though productively whole formal systems like plane geometry and topology were in origin occasioned by reflection on experience.