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Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Reginald Adrián Slavkovský · Michal Kutáš Edition Cognitive Studies Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Reginald Adrián Slavkovský · Michal Kutáš Edition Cognitive Studies Peer reviewers Table of Contents Prof. Silvia Gáliková, Ph.D. PhDr. Dezider Kamhal, Ph.D. Editorial Board Doc. Andrej Démuth ∙ Trnavská univerzita Prof. Josef Dolista ∙ Trnavská univerzita Prof. Silvia Gáliková ∙ Trnavská univerzita Prof. Peter Gärdenfors ∙ Lunds Universitet Dr. Richard Gray ∙ Cardiff University Doc. Marek Petrů ∙ Univerzita Palackého ∙ Olomouc 1. Introduction to the Philosophy of Language ..... 11 Dr. Adrián Slavkovský ∙ Trnavská univerzita 1.1 What is the Philosophy of Language Concerned with? What is Language? . 11 1.2 Why Get Interested in the Philosophy of Language? 13 1.3 Who and how Studies the Language? . 15 1.4 The Role of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences in Studying Language ............................... 16 2. Insight to the History ............................... 19 2.1 Master Chuang ...................................... 19 2.2 Nagarjuna: Borders of Rationality . 20 2.3 John Locke ........................................... 22 3. Frege I: Logic (Concept Script) ..................... 24 3.1 Mathematical Proofs and Logic . 24 3.2 Schemes of Inference ............................... 26 The publication of this book is part of the project Innovative Forms of Education in Transform- 3.3 To Understand the Language of Nature . 27 ing University Education (code 26110230028) — preparation of a study program Cognitive Stud- 3.4 Predicate Logic System .............................. 29 ies, which was supported by the European Union via its European Social Fund and by the Slovak Ministry of Education within the Operating Program Education. The text was prepared in the Centre of Cognitive Studies at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy in Trnava. 4. Frege II: Reference (Bedeutung) .................... 31 4.1 The Reference of Proper Names and Single–argument Predicates . 31 © Reginald Adrián Slavkovský · Michal Kutáš ∙ 2013 4.2 The Reference of Multi–argument Predicates © Towarzystwo Słowaków w Polsce ∙ Kraków ∙ 2013 and Logical Operators ............................... 36 © Filozofická fakulta Trnavskej univerzity v Trnave ∙ 2013 ISBN 978–83–7490–614–2 4.3 Principle of Compositionality . 39 5 4.4 Quantifiers and Their Importance . 40 11. Theory of Speech Acts .............................. 93 11.1 Ordinary Language Philosophy . 93 5. Frege III: Sense (Sinn) .............................. 46 11.2 Importance of Social Context for Meaning . 94 5.1 The Relation between Sense and Reference according to Frege ................................... 46 12. Willard van Orman Quine ......................... 99 5.2 Thought according to Frege ......................... 49 12.1 Analytic and Synthetic .............................. 99 12.2 Analyticity and Meaning ............................ 102 6. Russell I: Definite Descriptions .................... 51 12.3 Analyticity and Definition .......................... 105 6.1 Denoting ............................................. 51 12.4 Dogma of Analyticity and Syntheticity: Conclusion 107 6.2 Logical Analysis ..................................... 55 12.5 Dogma of Reductionism ............................ 108 12.6 Pragmatism and Naturalisation of Epistemology . 112 7. Russell II: Proper Names and Logical Atomism ... 62 7.1 Proper Names ....................................... 62 References ........................................... 115 7.2 Logical Atomism: Language Should Represent the World ............................................. 66 8. Russell III: Knowledge by Acquaintance and Real Proper Names ............................. 69 8.1 Knowledge by Acquaintance ........................ 69 8.2 The Only Real Proper Names (Expressions Used in Pointing at an Object) ...................... 71 8.3 Non–existent Subjects .............................. 76 9. Russell and Frege: Russell’s Paradox and Type Theory .................................... 78 9.1 Russell’s Paradox ..................................... 78 9.2 Type Theory .......................................... 80 10. Logical Positivism ................................... 83 10.1 Verifiability Criterion ................................ 83 10.2 State Description ..................................... 87 10.3 Meaningfulness ..................................... 89 6 7 Introduction In today globalized world, more than before people are being con- fronted with situations of foreign language environment or com- munication with people speaking different languages. The lan- guage of science has evolved to such form that a common person will comprehend a highly scientific article to a limited extent only. Information technology, whose software part is based on artificial programming languages, is infiltrating the ever growing number of areas of our life. As if even more pressingly than before, question from these and other areas can be heard, : What is language? What is sense? How do words carry sense? Many fields of study are concerned with language. This text- book is focusing on one line of language study only, for which the name philosophy of language became common. It is intended pri- marily for students of the Master’s level of the Cognitive studies field of study, but everyone who wants to become familiar with this topic is invited to reach for it. As for the teaching method used in the textbook, we would like to point out that we have focused on certain important thoughts of selected philosophers only (mainly Frege and Russell, because they are virtually the “founders of the philosophy of language”). At least in case of some partial problems, we wanted to go in more details, because we hope that these more detailed analyses can be inspiring for the reader to the effect that he will become interested in more detailed and precise solution of problems that also impor- tant thinkers of analytic philosophy were concerned with. We also 9 hope that this detailed explanation will motivate him to immerse 1. Introduction to the Philosophy of Language in the study of original texts. Many works that are part of the ana- lytic traditions are not only some vague discussions about big top- ics, but they are attempts for very precise solution of certain, albeit partial, problems. Mainly due to this fact, certain analytic philoso- phers contributed significantly to the understanding in such fields as logic, semantics, mathematics, linguistics, artificial intelligence and others. In chapters concerned in more detail with certain specific is- sues, we expect some knowledge of (propositional and predicate) Keywords: linguistic turn, analysis, language, philosophy of lan- logic, which is the content of basic university courses on logic. Be- guage, sense cause we think that without this basic knowledge many works of analytic philosophy (although not all) will remain closed off to per- 1.1 What is the Philosophy of Language Concerned with? son and the beauty of their ideas will not be visible. What is Language? In Trnava, July 31, 2012 Adrián Slavkovský and Michal Kutáš One of the most prominent movement in contemporary phi- losophy is the philosophy of language. It is a broad movement, not quite unified, but connected through such approach to phi- losophising that emphasises the role of language as a medium of our thought and our relation to the reality. In the history of philosophy, individual thinkers who thematised the role of language have been emerging since ancient history, but only at the turn of 19th and 20th century such approach became widespread, therefore this shift is usually called the linguistic turn. The new emphasis on language was accompanied also by the conviction that the analysis of language, which can either help solving the problem or reveal that it is a pseudo–problem emerging from the misunderstanding of the functioning of lan- guage, is the road to solving traditional philosophical problems. Apart from the emphasis on the role of language, science be- came another impulse and challenge for philosophy. For ones, the 10 11 enchantment with science and its exactness became an ideal the road signs, human gestures and facial expressions, formal languag- philosophy too should fulfil, whereas for others it became a warn- es in mathematics and logic, artificial computer languages, etc., can ing against the danger of narrower perception detached from re- be considered a language. Language is associated with the human ality in its complexity. The movement emerging from the effort ability to acquire certain system of symbols and use it for commu- for scientific approach in philosophy is usually calledanalytical nication, i.e. for exchange of information. philosophy. It is mainly understood as broader movement, more or less also including the philosophy of language. 1.2 Why Get Interested in the Philosophy of Language? The same thinkers are considered inspirers of both movements: Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. E. Moore When people started to use language and communicate with it, de- and also logical positivists concentrated in the Vienna Circle. For scribe the world and ask questions, it was only a matter of time this reason, certain authors also use the terms “philosophy of lan- when the language itself becomes the subject of interest. There is guage” and “analytical philosophy” as synonyms. Said thinkers nothing left that we would not continuously try to grasp with lan-
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