Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy

The Evolution of Modern Philosophy

by Michael Losonsky

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 and demonstrates how the history of the philosophy of language in the modern period is marked by a split between formal and pragmatic perspectives on language, which modern philosophy has not been able to integrate.

Genres: Linguistics, Philosophy

294 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Marcus Lira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents a marvellous overview of how language attracted the attention of philosopher (and, naturally, linguistics) since the dawn of philosophy.

His argument that philosophy of language begins with Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" is also very interesting.

[Sandbag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all linguistics and philosophy of language, there are dry sections where you have to work to understand, but the last chapter about the whimsical nature of the philosophy of language is very exciting!