So what is analytic philosophy?
joe lau http://2120.joelau.info
12 January, 2016
I take analytic philosophy here as originating in the work of Frege, Russell, Moore, and Wittgenstein, as encompassing the logical empiricism of the Vienna Circle, English ordinary language philosophy of the post-war period, American mainstream philosophy of recent decades, as well as their worldwide affiliates and descendents. - Hans Sluga
But is there a common thread?
If anything characterizes ‘analytic’ philosophy, then it is presumably the emphasis placed on analysis. (Michael Beaney http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/analysis/#6)
… the logical-analytic method in philosophy … found in the writings of Frege, has … forced itself upon me as something perfectly definite, capable of embodiment in maxims, and adequate, in all branches of philosophy, to yield whatever objective scientific knowledge it is possible to obtain. - Russell (1914) Preface, Our knowledge of the external world
the fundamental axiom of analytical philosophy [is] that the only route to the analysis of thought goes through the analysis of language - Dummett (1993) The Origins of Analytical Philosophy
Only with Frege was the proper object of philosophy finally established: namely, first, that the goal of philosophy is the analysis of the structure of thought; secondly, that the study of thought is to be sharply distinguished from the study of the psychological process of thinking, and, finally, that the only proper method for analysing thought consists in the analysis of language. … [T]he acceptance of these three tenets is common to the entire analytical school. - Dummett (1978) Truth and other enigmas
the view that philosophical problems are problems which may be solved (or dissolved) either by reforming language, or by understanding more about the language we presently use.
In saying that “analytic philosophy” now has only a stylistic and sociological unity, I am not suggesting that analytic philosophy is a bad thing, or is in bad shape. The analytic style is, I think, a good style. The esprit de corps among analytic philosophers is healthy and useful. - Rorty, Consequences of Pragmatism, p217
Philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge. - Stephen Hawking
