analytic and linguistic philosophy

8/13/2019 Analytic and Linguistic Philosophy

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Analytic and Linguistic PhilosophyI INTRODUCTION

Analytic and Linguistic Philosophy, 20th-centuy philosophical !o"e!ent, do!inant in #itain and the United

$tates since %old %a II, that ai!s to clai&y language and analy'e the concepts e(pessed in it) The

!o"e!ent has *een gi"en a "aiety o& designations, including linguistic analysis, logical e!piicis!, logical

positi"is!, Ca!*idge analysis, and +O(&od philosophy) The last to la*els ae dei"ed &o! the

uni"esities in .ngland hee this philosophical !ethod has *een paticulaly in&luential) Although no

speci&ic doctines o tenets ae accepted *y the !o"e!ent as a hole, analytic and linguistic philosophes

agee that the pope acti"ity o& philosophy is clai&ying language, o, as so!e pe&e, clai&ying concepts)

The ai! o& this acti"ity is to settle philosophical disputes and esol"e philosophical po*le!s, hich, it is

agued, oiginate in linguistic con&usion)

II APPROAC/.$

A considea*le di"esity o& "ies e(ists a!ong analytic and linguistic philosophes egading the natue o&

conceptual o linguistic analysis) $o!e ha"e *een pi!aily concened ith clai&ying the !eaning o& speci&ic

ods o phases as an essential step in !aing philosophical assetions clea and una!*iguous) Othes

ha"e *een !oe concened ith dete!ining the geneal conditions that !ust *e !et &o any linguistic

utteance to *e !eaning&ul1 thei intent is to esta*lish a citeion that ill distinguish *eteen !eaning&ul and

nonsensical sentences) $till othe analysts ha"e *een inteested in ceating &o!al, sy!*olic languages that

ae !athe!atical in natue) Thei clai! is that philosophical po*le!s can *e !oe e&&ecti"ely dealt ith

once they ae &o!ulated in a igoous logical language)

#y contast, !any philosophes associated ith the !o"e!ent ha"e &ocused on the analysis o& odinay, o

natual, language) Di&&iculties aise hen concepts such as ti!e and &eedo!, &o e(a!ple, ae consideed

apat &o! the linguistic conte(t in hich they no!ally appea) Attention to language as it is odinaily used

is the ey, it is agued, to esol"ing !any philosophical pu''les)

III .ARL /I$TOR

Linguistic analysis as a !ethod o& philosophy is as old as the 3ees) $e"eal o& the dialogues o& Plato, &o

e(a!ple, ae speci&ically concened ith clai&ying te!s and concepts) Ne"etheless, this style o&

philosophi'ing has ecei"ed da!atically eneed e!phasis in the 20th centuy) In&luenced *y the ealie#itish e!piical tadition o& 4ohn Loce, 3eoge #eeley, Da"id /u!e, and 4ohn $tuat 5ill and *y the

itings o& the 3e!an !athe!atician and philosophe 3ottlo* 6ege, the 20th-centuy .nglish philosophes

3) .) 5ooe and #etand Russell *eca!e the &oundes o& this conte!poay analytic and linguistic tend)

As students togethe at the Uni"esity o& Ca!*idge, 5ooe and Russell e7ected /egelian idealis!,

paticulaly as it as e&lected in the o o& the .nglish !etaphysician 6) /) #adley, ho held that nothing

is co!pletely eal e(cept the A*solute) In thei opposition to idealis! and in thei co!!it!ent to the "ie


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that cae&ul attention to language is cucial in philosophical in8uiy, they set the !ood and style o&

philosophi'ing &o !uch o& the 20th centuy .nglish-speaing old)

6o 5ooe, philosophy as &ist and &oe!ost analysis) The philosophical tas in"ol"es clai&ying pu''ling

popositions o concepts *y indicating less pu''ling popositions o concepts to hich the oiginals ae held

to *e logically e8ui"alent) Once this tas has *een co!pleted, the tuth o &alsity o& po*le!atic philosophical

assetions can *e dete!ined !oe ade8uately) 5ooe as noted &o his cae&ul analyses o& such pu''ling

philosophical clai!s as +ti!e is uneal, analyses that then aided in dete!ining the tuth o& such assetions)

Russell, stongly in&luenced *y the pecision o& !athe!atics, as concened ith de"eloping an ideal logical

language that ould accuately e&lect the natue o& the old) Co!ple( popositions, Russell !aintained,

can *e esol"ed into thei si!plest co!ponents, hich he called ato!ic popositions) These popositions

e&e to ato!ic &acts, the ulti!ate constituents o& the uni"ese) The !etaphysical "ie *ased on this logical

analysis o& language and the insistence that !eaning&ul popositions !ust coespond to &acts constitute

hat Russell called logical ato!is!) /is inteest in the stuctue o& language also led hi! to distinguish

*eteen the ga!!atical &o! o& a poposition and its logical &o!) The state!ents +4ohn is good and +4ohn

is tall ha"e the sa!e ga!!atical &o! *ut di&&eent logical &o!s) 6ailue to ecogni'e this ould lead one

to teat the popety +goodness as i& it ee a chaacteistic o& 4ohn in the sa!e ay that the popety

+tallness is a chaacteistic o& 4ohn) $uch &ailue esults in philosophical con&usion)

I9 %ITT3.N$T.IN AND T/. LO3ICAL PO$ITI9I$T$

Russell:s o in !athe!atics attacted to Ca!*idge the Austian philosophe Ludig %ittgenstein, ho

*eca!e a cental &igue in the analytic and linguistic !o"e!ent) In his &ist !a7o o, Tractatus Logico-

Philosophicus;) Led *y 5oit'

$chlic and Rudol& Canap, the 9ienna Cicle initiated one o& the !ost i!potant chaptes in the histoy o&

analytic and linguistic philosophy) Accoding to the positi"ists, the tas o& philosophy is the clai&ication o&

!eaning, not the disco"ey o& ne &acts ;the 7o* o& the scientists> o the constuction o& co!pehensi"e

accounts o& eality ;the !isguided pusuit o& taditional !etaphysics>)

The positi"ists di"ided all !eaning&ul assetions into to classes analytic popositions and e!piically

"ei&ia*le ones) Analytic popositions, hich include the popositions o& logic and !athe!atics, ae

state!ents the tuth o &alsity o& hich depend altogethe on the !eanings o& the te!s constituting the


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state!ent) An e(a!ple ould *e the poposition +to plus to e8uals &ou) The second class o& !eaning&ul

popositions includes all state!ents a*out the old that can *e "ei&ied, at least in pinciple, *y sense

e(peience) Indeed, the !eaning o& such popositions is identi&ied ith the e!piical !ethod o& thei

"ei&ication) This "ei&ia*ility theoy o& !eaning, the positi"ists concluded, ould de!onstate that scienti&ic

state!ents ae legiti!ate &actual clai!s and that !etaphysical, eligious, and ethical sentences ae &actually

e!pty) The ideas o& logical positi"is! ee !ade popula in .ngland *y the pu*lication o& A) 4) Aye:s

Language, Truth and Logicin


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Fuine discussed the elationship *eteen language and ontology) /e agued that language syste!s tend to

co!!it thei uses to the e(istence o& cetain things) 6o Fuine, the 7usti&ication &o speaing one ay athe

than anothe is a thooughly pag!atic one)

The co!!it!ent to language analysis as a ay o& pusuing philosophy has continued as a signi&icant

conte!poay di!ension in philosophy) A di"ision also continues to e(ist *eteen those ho pe&e to o

ith the pecision and igo o& sy!*olic logical syste!s and those ho pe&e to analy'e odinay language)

Although &e conte!poay philosophes !aintain that all philosophical po*le!s ae linguistic, the "ie

continues to *e idely held that attention to the logical stuctue o& language and to ho language is used in

e"eyday discouse can o&ten aid in esol"ing philosophical po*le!s)

Conti*uted #y

Ro*et 5) #aid

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2004.G

analytic and linguistic philosophy

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