de dicto/de re  

Terms used in philosophy and logic which have been invoked in the SEMANTIC analysis of sentences expressing such MODAL meanings as ‘It is possible that . . .’ or ‘X believes that . . .’ De dicto (Latin: ‘about what is said’) refers to the truth of a proposition, whereas de re (‘about the thing’) refers to belief in an individual entity. For example, a sentence such as Jane believes that Michael Brown is a doctor is ambiguous between the two readings. On a de re reading, the speaker refers to a particular individual as Michael Brown, and asserts that Jane believes that individual to be a doctor. The sentence entails that Michael Brown exists, but makes no claim as to whether Jane knows him by that name. In contrast, on a de dicto reading, the sentence asserts that Jane stands in the belief relation to the sentence Michael Brown is a doctor. Hence it requires that Jane believes there to be someone named Michael Brown, but the sentence taken as a whole does not entail that such an individual actually exists.