Analytic Philosophy

Willard Van Orman Quine was one of the most influential analytic philosophers of the 20th century. A professor at Harvard for decades, his work revolutionised epistemology, philosophy of language, and ontology, while simultaneously dismantling the foundations of the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle. Quine is the principal link between American pragmatism (Dewey, James) and contemporary analytic philosophy. Key Concepts Critique of the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction (“Two Dogmas of Empiricism”, 1951, Philosophical Review; reprinted in From a Logical Point of View, 1953): Quine attacks two dogmas of empiricism: (1) the belief in a sharp distinction between analytic propositions (true by meaning, e.g. “all bachelors are unmarried”) and synthetic ones (true by empirical fact); and (2) reductionism (each statement has an isolated empirical content). Quine argues that the notion of “analyticity” is circular — it presupposes “synonymy”, which presupposes “analyticity”. ...

Wilfrid Sellars Wilfrid Sellars was one of the most profound and original American analytic philosophers of the twentieth century, though less widely read than his influence would warrant. Trained in a tradition that combined analytic rigor with a deep knowledge of the history of philosophy, he set out to articulate what he called the ultimate aim of philosophy: “to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term.” His work seeks to reconcile a commitment to science and naturalism with recognition of the normative dimension of thought and knowledge. He taught above all at the University of Pittsburgh, where he formed an influential line of students. ...