Early Analytic Philosophy: An Inclusive Reader With Commentary contains the most important readings in the development of the analytic tradition in philosophy. Featuring primary source material accompanied by introductions and commentaries, it brings together work by thinkers at the origins of the tradition.
Beginning in the 1890s with F.H. Bradley and ending in the 1950s with W.V.O Quine, each chapter includes readings from a particular thinker or movement. Background information and further reading recommendations appear alongside discussion of the main ideas in the readings. Covering well-known figures such as Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and G.E. Moore, this reader also highlights the central role of neglected figures, such as E.E. Constance Jones and her logical writings, and L. Susan Stebbing's work on analysis and scientific discourse.
One way to understand analytic philosophy – and to attempt to answer the question “what is analytic philosophy?” – is through practice: through engaging with the themes and problems that make up analytic philosophy. This reader makes it possible to grapple with the ideas and arguments that defined the early years. It is essential reading for anyone looking for a more inclusive history of the tradition and to understand what it means to be an analytic philosopher.
Arvustused
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. * Tony Cheng, Assistant Professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan * Analytic philosophy is a wide-ranging field, encompassing different methods, viewpoints, and intellectual trajectories. Selecting its major historical sources for the interested students is a challenging task, but Morris and Preti have produced an engaging collection with their masterfully written, clear, and intelligible commentaries. The present textbook includes all the major heroes and some of the previously neglected and forgotten figures from the early history of analytic philosophy, thus students, teachers, and even early career researchers shall use the book without hesitation within and outside the classroom. This will be a textbook used for many years without real competition. * Adam Tamas Tuboly, Research Fellow, MTA Lendulet Values and Science Research Group, Hungary * This is a well-chosen and clearly-explained collection of some of the most important work in early analytic philosophy, from its origin in British Idealism to the mid-century work of W.V. Quine. The authors do an excellent job of helping students to understand these often-obscure texts. * Matthew Davidson, Professor and Chair Department of Philosophy, California State University, USA * The book of Kevin Morris and Consuelo Preti is a well-informed introduction to the early analytic philosophy that can be of interest not only for undergraduate students but also for seasoned scholars. It combines in fine balance informative introductory elucidations of leading early analytic philosophers with excerpts of their works. * Nikolay Milkov, Professor of Philosophy, Paderborn University, Germany *
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Primary texts supported by introductory material that provide a complete guide to the origins analytic philosophy.
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 commentary
Background
Monistic idealism
Critique of relations
Appearance and reality
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
Appearance and Reality (selections from Chs 13, 1214)
3 G. E. Moore on Idealism, the Good,
and Common Sense
Background and commentary
Background
Critique of monistic idealism
Goodness and the naturalistic fallacy
Common sense and philosophy
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
The Refutation of Idealism
Principia Ethica,
Chapter 1
A Defence of Common Sense
Proof of an External World
4 Gottlob Frege: Logic and the
Philosophy of Language
Background and commentary
Background
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 commentary
Background
Monism and relations
Names and descriptions
Analysis, sense-data, and scientific philosophy
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
Russell on Monism and Relations (selections from The Principles
of Mathematics and Our Knowledge of the External World)
On Denoting
Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description
6 E. E. Constance Jones on Language
and Logic
Background and commentary
Background
Developments in logic
Jones and Russell: The 191011 debate
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
Mr. Russells Objections to Freges Analysis of Propositions
A New Law of Thought
7 Ludwig Wittgenstein on Language and
Philosophy
Background and commentary
Background
Language, reality, and philosophy in the Tractatus
After the Tractatus
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (selections)
8 Logical Empiricism: Meaning, Metaphysics,
and Mathematics
Background and commentary
Background
Meaning, verification, and the critique of metaphysics
Ethical discourse
Philosophy of mathematics and logic
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
Schlick, 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 commentary
Background
Logic and language
Language and science
Empiricism and analysis
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
A 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 and
Ontology
Background and Commentary
Background
Analyticity rejected
Ontological commitment
Concluding remarks
Further reading
Readings
On What There Is
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
11 Analytic Philosophy Since 1950
References
Index
Kevin Morris is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University, USA.
Consuelo Preti is Professor of Philosophy at The College of New Jersey, USA.
