Linguistic Philosophy: The Central Story (S U N Y Series in Philosophy)

Explores the role language plays in the relationship between reality and utterance. How Much Authority Should Language, The Medium Of Communication, Be Accorded As A Determinant Of Truth And Therefore Of What We Say? [author] Argues That, Although Never Explicitly Debated, This Is The Most Significant Issue Of Linguistic Philosophy. Here, For The First Time, He Traces The Issue's Story. Starting With Representative Thinkers--plato, Aquinas, Kant, Frege, And The Early Wittgenstein--who Contested Language's Authority, The Narrative Then Focuses On Thinkers Such As Carnap, Tarski, The Later Wittgenstein, Flew, Russell, Malcolm, Austin, Kripke, Putnam, Strawson, Quine, And Habermas Who, In Diferent Ways And To Varying Degrees, Accorded Language More Authority. Implicit In This Account Is A Challenge To Philosophy As Still Widely Practiced.--back Cover. The Issue Of Language's Authority -- The Question's Centrality -- Plato's Recourse To Nonlinguistic Forms -- Aquinas And The Primacy Of Mental Truth -- The Tractatus : Precise Thought Versus Imprecise Language -- Carnap's Limited Linguistic Turn -- Tarski, Truth, And Claims Of Linguistic Incoherence -- Wittgenstein's Acceptance Of The Authority Of Language -- Wittgenstein Versus Theoretical Intuitions -- Flew And Paradigm-case Arguments -- Russell's Critique Of Common Sense -- Malcolm And The Ordinary Language Debate -- Austin, Statements, And Their Truth -- A Lead Overlooked : From Meaning To Truth -- Kripke, Putnam, And Rigid Designation -- Quine, Linguistic Truths, And Holistic Theory -- Quine, Indeterminacy, And The Opacity Of Language -- Rorty, Stich, And Pragmatic Assertability -- Habermas, Communicative Speech, And Validity -- Past, Present, And Future : An Overview. Garth L. Hallett. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 213-229) And Index. "How much authority should language, the medium of communication, be accorded as a determinant of truth and therefore of what we say? Garth L. Hallett argues that, although never explicitly debated, this is the most significant issue of linguistic philosophy. Here, for the first time, he traces the issue's story. Starting with representative thinkers - Plato, Aquinas, Kant, Frege, and the early Willgenstein - who contested language's authority, the narrative then focuses on thinkers such as Carnap, Tarski, the later Wittgenstein, Flew, Russell, Malcolm, Austin, Kripke, Putnam, Strawson, Quine, and Habermas who, in different ways and to varying degrees, accorded language more authority, implicit in this account is a challenge to philosophy as still widely practiced."--Jacket How much authority should language, the medium of communication, be accorded as a determinant of truth and therefore of what we say? Garth L. Hallett argues that, although never explicitly debated, this is the most significant issue of linguistic philosophy. Here, for the first time, he traces the issue's story. Starting with representative thinkers—Plato, Aquinas, Kant, Frege, and the early Wittgenstein—who contested language's authority, the narrative then focuses on thinkers such as Carnap, Tarski, the later Wittgenstein, Flew, Russell, Malcolm, Austin, Kripke, Putnam, Strawson, Quine, and Habermas who, in different ways and to varying degrees, accorded language more authority. Implicit in this account is a challenge to philosophy as still widely practiced.