
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 AI Snips
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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.
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.
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.
