The explanatory role Frege assigns to sense — mediating reference and grounding cognitive significance — is better discharged by causal-historical chains than by abstract intermediaries.

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Abstract intermediaries(The statement suggests these abstract ideas are less useful than real-world causal chains): Non-physical, mental concepts that exist only in thought and serve as a bridge between words and things. Frege's 'sense' is an example—it's an invisible idea that supposedly helps a word connect to what it names.
Cognitive significance(The standard being used to judge whether Collingwood's theory is legitimate): The quality of having meaningful content that tells us something real about the world or our thinking—basically, whether a statement actually *means* something.
Explanatory role(what truth's definition should preserve): The ability of a concept or theory to help us understand why things work the way they do.
Frege(as a major historical figure in philosophy): Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) was a German logician and philosopher who founded modern logic and did groundbreaking work on how language relates to meaning and existence.

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