Analytical philosophy is a new philosophical direction that arose in the early 20th century in Western countries, which implies strictness in the use of certain terminology, focusing on the process of argumentation, and distrust of speculative reasoning. This type of thinking was especially widespread in countries such as England, Australia, and the United States. In Russian literature, the analytical direction in philosophy appeared relatively recently, only in the 80s of the twentieth century.
The founders of this philosophical trend are considered to be George Moore and Bertrand Russell, its ideological inspiration is the author of the famous "Logical and Philosophical Treatise" by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
The three main features of analytical philosophy are:
- linguistic reductionism, which consists in reducing all existing problems of philosophy to problems of language;
- methodological bias, which implies the opposition of the analytical method to all currents of philosophical thought that existed before the 20th century;
- semantic emphasis, that is, focusing on the problem of meaning.
The analytical philosophy of the 20th century is primarily the philosophy of language. Misunderstanding due to imperfection of the language, ambiguity of expressions and word forms, according to analysts - followers of the new philosophical worldview, are the main reason for the emergence and development of the "old" philosophy. According to Wittgenstein, the main task of philosophy is to build such an ideal language in the sense of understanding that would help resolve the philosophical debates that have developed over the centuries about consciousness and being, ethics and free will. That is why analytical philosophy at the stage of its inception was reduced to the formalization of language and the perfection of its logical symbols. The followers of Wittgenstein dealt with this problem: Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurat, Moritz Schlick. It should be noted that the idea of bringing the language to its perfection very quickly exhausted itself, and philosophers recognized that the existence of a perfect language, although permissible, is not always advisable. For example, a rigorous mathematical language is unacceptable in everyday communication, and even more so when writing unscientific fiction, primarily poetry.
The thirties of the 20th century are considered a turning point in analytical philosophical science. It was at this time that Ludwig Wittgenstein returned from voluntary exile (for 6 years he worked as simple rural teachers in the Alps) to Cambridge. A circle of young followers of the theory of analytical thinking quickly formed around him here . New ideas were embodied in a book called Philosophical Studies. This work was the final work of the life of the philosopher, he worked on it until his death in 1951.
Analytical philosophy was further developed in the writings of Gilbert Ryle, the author of Philosophical Arguments, Categories, and many others. The main problem that the author raises in his books is a simple question: “What makes a philosophical question exactly philosophical?” The answer is that the main purpose of philosophy as a science is to “unravel” categorical errors and a kind of intellectual nodes. The misunderstandings arising at the same time can be resolved by highlighting various logical categories of concepts and terms.
Analytical philosophy and its ideas have had a significant impact on the development of philosophy in general in many countries of the world. Over time, this direction of philosophical thought turned into a broad cultural trend, the main positions of which are still strong in many English-speaking countries.