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Foundations of Analytical Philosophy, Part 3: Descriptivism, Naturalism and Pragmatism

In the last part of this series, Dan Hutto describes the options open to analytical philosophers today.

Three events mark analytical philosophy’s transition from its middle to its mature period. These are the dissolution of the analytic/synthetic distinction, the emergence of the ‘indeterminacy of translation’ thesis and the articulation of the private language argument. I will begin by discussing these philosophical milestones, without particular concern for chronology.

1.1 The Fall of the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction

If you recall from the last instalment, the logical positivists called a proposition ‘analytic’ if its truth was secured by definition.

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