History of Philosophy

Schools of Contemporary Philosophy

Philosophy of Language

In the 20th century, philosophers recognized the crucial role of language in understanding reality, interpersonal communication, and worldview formation. Without language, neither communication, the articulation of knowledge, nor comprehension is possible. The realization of language's importance across all facets of human life led philosophers to place it at the center of their inquiries. Consequently, the philosophy of language emerged as a prominent subject in contemporary philosophical discourse. Originating in the 19th century with Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), who demonstrated that people think as they speak, rather than speak as they think, and that language is the principal means of shaping our world view, the philosophy of language saw further development in the 20th century. Johann Leo Weisgerber (1899-1985) emphasized Humboldt's idea of the connection between language and national culture, showing that language underpins the formation of national culture. American linguists Edward Sapir (1884-1939) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) built upon Humboldt's concepts to develop the hypothesis of linguistic relativity, suggesting that thought and perception are influenced by one's native language.

Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) established the foundations of structuralism, a philosophical concept asserting that language is a structure of symbols whose meanings are defined by the structure itself. The meaning of language elements can only be understood within the framework of the language as a structure. Structuralism, originating in linguistics, found adherents in other fields of the humanities.

However, the most influential direction in the philosophy of language became analytic philosophy. Proponents of this approach argued that philosophy is inseparable from language; hence, language is as crucial to philosophy as logic and evidential reasoning. Some philosophical problems remain unresolved not due to the complexity of the subject matter but because of incorrect language use. Therefore, solutions to these problems should be sought not in the object of knowledge but in language as the primary medium of understanding. Analytic philosophy is not a unified school but a philosophical movement characterized by a focus on language, clarity of concepts, and a critical approach to issues of proof and verification. Within analytic philosophy emerged various strands, such as logical atomism and logical positivism. The latter aimed to purify language of inaccuracies causing epistemological issues and to create an ideal scientific language. Another strand, the philosophy of ordinary language, posited that the focus should be on everyday language, as it remains the primary means of knowledge. Analytic philosophy originated in Austria and Britain and spread globally after World War II.

In the realm of analytic philosophy, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) developed a theory known as logical atomism. They held that reality consists of atomic facts, which are reflected in logical atoms—propositions. Wittgenstein referred to this view as the "picture theory," indicating that linguistic expressions are mirrors of factual reality. The primary characteristic of propositions is their truth value: every proposition is either true or false. Simple propositions are true when the state of affairs they describe exists, and false when it does not. To establish or verify the truth value of a proposition, one must determine whether its content aligns with reality, which can only be done through experience. Thus, logical atomism merges logicism and empiricism. Analytic philosophers became interested in issues related to verifying the truth value of propositions. Some propositions have easily ascertainable truth values (e.g., "Copper conducts electricity" or "Iron dissolves in water" can be verified through experience), while others are unverifiable (e.g., "Love will save the world"). Since experience cannot determine the truth value of such propositions, they present problems that cannot be resolved. These problems arise not from the complexity of the subject matter but from the limitations of language. Therefore, some philosophical issues, generated by linguistic imperfections, are illusory rather than real, making it unreasonable to expend time and effort on their resolution; they should simply be discarded. Since these problems stem from linguistic inadequacies, they can only be eliminated through philosophical analysis of language.

Thus, the philosophical analysis of language in the conception of analytic philosophers became the foundational principle of philosophy. Before investing intellectual effort into resolving a philosophical problem, it is essential to ascertain whether the problem is not merely an illusion or caused by imperfections in language. The principal contribution of analytic philosophy, particularly that of Russell and Wittgenstein, lies in their ability to draw attention to the role of language in philosophical discourse, scientific inquiry, and communication. Although philosophers since Humboldt understood the importance of language in knowledge, it was only analytic philosophers who demonstrated that linguistic analysis could become an effective means of addressing numerous problems that have loomed over philosophy and science for centuries like a Damoclean sword. Following Russell, Wittgenstein, and their contemporaries, Western philosophy has been characterized by logical clarity, empirical evidence, and careful use of language. Analytic philosophers endeavored to eradicate from philosophy everything that could not be evaluated from the standpoint of logic and experience. The language of philosophy and science should not resemble the language of literary art.

In 1922, the Vienna Circle emerged, with its members applying the insights of logical atomists to science. The philosophical movement they represented is commonly referred to as logical positivism or logical empiricism. Logical positivists sought to apply the achievements of Wittgenstein and Russell to the philosophy of science.

In the second half of the 20th century, Wittgenstein re-evaluated his views, observing that there are statements that are not related to anything empirically verifiable but still hold meaning (e.g., requests, prayers, exclamations, etc.). His ally, George Edward Moore (1873-1958), who studied moral philosophy, argued that ethics operates not with descriptive but with normative judgments, that is, judgments that prescribe how reality should be, rather than describe how it is. These observations spurred a new direction in analytic philosophy—philosophy of ordinary language—whose proponents advocated not for perfecting language but for studying it as it is. If there are statements that do not describe anything yet hold meaning, this implies that the meaning of statements derives not from reality but from something else. Wittgenstein argued that statements acquire meaning in a linguistic situation just as chess pieces have meaning only within the game. This theory is known as the theory of language games. John Langshaw Austin (1911-1960) and John Rogers Searle (b. 1932), within the framework of the philosophy of ordinary language, developed the theory of speech acts, analyzing the speech act itself and aspects of its functioning.