The Philosophy of Philosophy
Chapter One
The Linguistic Turn and
the Conceptual Turn
The Linguistic Turn is the title of an influential anthology edited by
Richard Rorty, published in 1967. He credited the phrase to Gustav
Bergmann (Bergmann 1964: 3; Rorty 1967: 9). In his introduction,
Rorty (1967: 3) explained:
The purpose of the present volume is to provide materials for reflection
on the most recent philosophical revolution, that of linguistic philosophy.
I shall mean by "linguistic philosophy" the view that philosophical
problems are problems which may be solved (or dissolved) either
by reforming language, or by understanding more about the language
we presently use.
"The linguistic turn" has subsequently become the standard vague
phrase for a diffuse event - some regard it as the event - in twentieth-century
philosophy, one not confined to signed-up linguistic philosophers
in Rorty's sense. For those who took the turn, language was
somehow the central theme of philosophy.
The word "theme" is used with deliberate vagueness. It does not ... read full excerpt from The Philosophy of Philosophy ebook
