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Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy

Michael Losonsky author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:16th Jan '06

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Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy cover

Losonsky traces the linguistic turns in the history of modern philosophy and the development of the philosophy of language.

This book traces the linguistic turns in the history of modern philosophy and the development of the philosophy of language. Michael Losonsky shows how the history of the philosophy of language in the modern period is marked by an as yet unintegrated dichotomy between formal and pragmatic perspectives on language.This book traces the linguistic turns in the history of modern philosophy and the development of the philosophy of language from Locke to Wittgenstein. It examines the contributions of canonical figures such as Leibniz, Mill, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Austin, Quine, and Davidson, as well as those of Condillac, Humboldt, Chomsky, and Derrida. Michael Losonsky argues that the philosophy of language begins with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding. He shows how the history of the philosophy of language in the modern period is marked by a dichotomy between formal and pragmatic perspectives on language and that modern philosophy has not been able to integrate these two aspects of human language. Language as a human activity and language as a syntactic and semantic system remain distinct and competing focal points, although the interplay between these points of view has driven the development of the philosophy of language.

Losonky's timely book is clearly written, engaging and astute. it is well worth careful study and will no doubt provide the emerging field of the history of the philosophy of language with a styrong base for years to come.' Benjamin Hill, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

ISBN: 9780521652568

Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 19mm

Weight: 516g

294 pages