Philosophy For Our Times

Is analytic philosophy's fixation on language holding us back? | Barry Smith, Maria Balaska, Hilary Lawson

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Feb 21, 2023
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INSIGHT

Analytic Philosophy Is A Cluster

  • Analytic philosophy is best seen as a cluster of approaches, not a single method.
  • Its core traits mix emphasis on language, formal logic, and ties to science in varying proportions.
ANECDOTE

From Oxford Optimism To Skepticism

  • Hilary Lawson recounts joining Oxford and adopting the analytic aim to 'clear the ground so that science could get on'.
  • He then says he came to view that project as flawed and unable to produce a realist theory of language.
INSIGHT

The Mathematical Ambition

  • Analytic philosophy began with bold ambitions to make philosophy as precise as mathematics.
  • Figures like Frege, Russell and early Wittgenstein aimed to build exact languages to capture mathematical and logical truths.
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