Early Analytic Philosophy

Kevin Morris is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University, USA.Consuelo Preti is Professor of Philosophy at The College of New Jersey, USA.

• Preface How to use Early Analytic Philosophy Comments on the text Acknowledgments 1 Introducing Analytic Philosophy Analytic philosophy: Themes and ideas Further reading 2 F. H. Bradley and Monistic Idealism Background and commentaryBackground Monistic idealismCritique of relations Appearance and reality Concluding remarks Further reading ReadingsAppearance and Reality (selections from Chs 1–3, 12–14) 3 G. E. Moore on Idealism, the Good,and Common Sense Background and commentaryBackground Critique of monistic idealism Goodness and the naturalistic fallacy Common sense and philosophy Concluding remarksFurther readingReadings“The Refutation of Idealism” Principia Ethica, Chapter 1“A Defence of Common Sense” “Proof of an External World” 4 Gottlob Frege: Logic and thePhilosophy of Language Background and commentaryBackground Logic and logicism Sinn, Bedeutung, and thoughts Concluding remarks Further reading Readings“On Sinn and Bedeutung” “The Thought” 5 Bertrand Russell on Relations,Descriptions, and Knowledge Background and commentaryBackground Monism and relations Names and descriptions Analysis, sense-data, and scientific philosophy Concluding remarks Further readingReadingsRussell on Monism and Relations (selections from The Principlesof Mathematics and Our Knowledge of the External World) “On Denoting” “Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description” 6 E. E. Constance Jones on Languageand Logic Background and commentaryBackground Developments in logic Jones and Russell: The 1910–11 debate Concluding remarks Further reading Readings“Mr. Russell’s Objections to Frege’s Analysis of Propositions” “A New Law of Thought” 7 Ludwig Wittgenstein on Language andPhilosophy Background and commentaryBackground Language, reality, and philosophy in the Tractatus After the Tractatus Concluding remarks Further reading ReadingsTractatus Logico-Philosophicus (selections) 8 Logical Empiricism: Meaning, Metaphysics,and Mathematics Background and commentaryBackground Meaning, verification, and the critique of metaphysics Ethical discourse Philosophy of mathematics and logic Concluding remarks Further reading ReadingsSchlick, “Meaning and Verification” Carnap, “The Elimination of Metaphysics . . .” Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (selections from Chs 4, 6) 9 Susan Stebbing on Logic, Language,and Analysis Background and commentaryBackground Logic and language Language and science Empiricism and analysis Concluding remarks Further reading ReadingsA Modern Introduction to Logic (selections from Chs 1, 24) Philosophy and the Physicists (selections from Ch. 3) “Logical Positivism and Analysis” 10 W. V. O. Quine on Analyticity andOntology Background and CommentaryBackground Analyticity rejected Ontological commitment Concluding remarks Further reading Readings“On What There Is” “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” 11 Analytic Philosophy Since 1950 References Index

Early analytic philosophy contains much food for thought, but it has often been ignored by contemporary philosophers. This volume is a fantastic starting point for understanding aspects of early analytic ideas - it is the kind of book I will use myself, and will recommend it to my colleagues and students.