A Brief History of Analytic Philosophy From Russell to Rawls

By Stephen P. Schwartz

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Schwartz, Stephen P., 1944A brief history of analytic philosophy: from Russell to Rawls I by Stephen P. Schwartz. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978 0 470 67207 5 (hardback) ISBN 978-0 470 67208 2 (paperback) 1. Analysis (Philosophy) History. I. Title.B808.5.S39 2013 146' .409 dc23

2011050471

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Typeset in 10/12pt Palatino by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, India.

Printed in Singapore by Ho Printing Singapore Pte Ltd

1 2012

Contents

Preface

Introduction: What is Analytic Philosophy? Leading Analytic Philosophers

1 Russell and Moore

xi

1 6

8 Empiricism, Mathematics, and Symbolic Logic 8 Logicism 12 Russell on Definite Descriptions 20 G. E. Moore's Philosophy of Common Sense 27 Moore and Russell on Sense Data 30 Moore's and Russell's Anti-Hegelianism 33 Summary 38

2 Wittgenstein, the Vienna Circle, and Logical Positivism 46 Introduction 46 Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus 48 Historical Note: The Vienna Circle and their Allies 58 The Elimination of Metaphysics and the Logical Positivist Program 59 The Demise of the Vienna Circle 68 The Influence of the Logical Positivists 69

3 Responses to Logical Positivism: Quine, Kuhn, and American Pragmatism 76 Introduction 76 The Demise of the Verifiability Criterion of Meaningfulness 78 Quine' s Rejection of the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction 82 Quinean Empiricism without the Dogmas 86 American Pragmatists after Quine: Nelson Goodman, Richard Rorty,

and Hilary Putnam 101

Contents

4 Oxford Ordinary Language Philosophy and Later Wittgenstein Introduction The Attack on Formalism - Strawson and Ryle Philosophy of Language - Austin and Wittgenstein Philosophy of Mind - Ryle, Strawson, and Wittgenstein The Rejection of Sense Data Theory The Legacy of Ordinary Language Philosophy

5 Responses to Ordinary Language Philosophy: Logic, Language, and Mind Part 1: Formal Logic and Philosophy of Language Godel and Tarski Davidson Grice Carnap - Meaning and Necessity Chomsky

Part 2: Philosophy of Mind Functionalism Objections to Functionalism - Bats and the Chinese Room Anomalous Monism The Problem of Mental Causation

6 The Rebirth of Metaphysics Modal Logic Possible Worlds Problems with the Canonical Conception of Possible Worlds Transworld Identity and Identification The Modal Version of the Ontological Argument

7 Naming, Necessity, and Natural Kinds: Kripke, Putnam,

119 119 124 128 138 147 153

160 161 161 166 174 178 180

183 183 188 192 194

204 204 212 216 223 229

and Donnellan 239 Introduction 239 The Traditional Theory of Meaning and Reference 240 Kripke's and Donne/Ian's Criticism of the Traditional Theory: Names

and Descriptions 243 Natural Kind Terms 247 Problems for the New Theory of Reference 253 Applications of the New Theory of Reference to the Philosophy of Mind 257 The Social, Cultural, and Institutional Basis of Meaning and Reference 260

8 Ethics and Metaethics in the Analytic Tradition Introduction

264 264 266 G. E. Moore's Principia Ethica

viii

The Non-Cognitivism of C. L. Stevenson The Universal Prescriptivism of R. M. Hare The Return to Substantive Ethics Questioning the FactN alue Divide Peter Singer and Animal Liberation John Rawls ' Theory o!Justice

9 Epilogue: Analytic Philosophy Today and Tomorrow Analytic Philosophy since 1980 What is the Future of Analytic Philosophyr

References Index

Contents

269 272 275 278 281 285

299 299 321

327 337

ix