ANALYTICAL PHILOSOPHY: HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS AND REPRESENTATIVES - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The analytic philosophy is based on the use of the conceptual analysis of the language through formal logic. Its creators were Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell and others, and they argued that many problems in the philosophy of that time could be solved through rigorous and systematic reflection on the application of concepts and the use of language.

Analytical philosophy emerged at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. It underwent some changes with the passage of time, and during the middle of the 20th century it was shown as a response to the need to establish clear and critical arguments, focusing on the details used to establish concepts and statements.

Bertrand Russell, one of the representatives of analytical philosophy

This philosophy had its maximum acceptance in the Anglo-Saxon world, especially in countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, although it also took shape in the hands of some Scandinavian philosophers, and even in Germany and Austria.

Currently analytical philosophy has merged with other philosophical branches, leading to its limits not being as clear as in its beginnings, making it more difficult to try to define current conceptual analysis without polemicizing or contradicting the original characteristics of this current.

History

Analytical philosophy, also known as conceptual analysis, begins to take shape when the nineteenth century is about to end.

This is because the natural sciences (biology, physics, chemistry) had advanced in such a concrete and sure way that many of the contemporary philosophers felt a certain displacement to which they wanted to respond shrewdly.

The main themes of philosophy - the mind, language, the world, the ego - were slowly losing their reputations, as many demanded from philosophers demonstrations of objectivity and truth in their arguments.

The representatives of philosophy then decided that, because truths in philosophy could not be justified empirically or naturally, the creation of a priori conceptual analysis would allow them to eliminate the need for justification before the natural sciences.

This philosophical current takes shape when Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead generate, from the mathematical and logical advances of the German Gottlob Frege, what is known as "Frege's logicism".

With this they determined what would be the beginning of a more rigorous and logical approach towards the establishment of arguments, theories and truths.

As the century passed, other analytical philosophers appeared, such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolf Carnap, and many of the members of the Vienna Circle, who built their own sub-currents of this new way of philosophizing.

Each sub-current always emphasized the use of an analytical method that could result in a priori, necessary and, therefore, irrefutable concepts.

Main features

Due to the theoretical differences between the representatives of analytic philosophy, it is impossible to establish absolute characteristics that define it.

However, the most important aspects of this philosophical current are the following:

- The importance of the study of language and the conceptualization of theories and arguments. Depending on the time, this rigorous study focused on both formal logic and ordinary language.

- His approach to the type of scientific investigation used in the natural sciences. He was trying to get closer to physics and biology than to their ontological aspects. According to its best-known representatives, these ontological aspects were impossible to verify and, therefore, were of no importance.

- The departure from the metaphysical and ontological tradition. Evident in subcurrents such as logical positivism, which established that many of the most common problems in philosophy, such as metaphysical statements, were impossible to dissect analytically, so they were not dealt with in analytic philosophy.

- Its connection with logical empiricism, which held that the scientific method provides the only valid form of knowledge.

- His opposition to the philosophical currents that were considered traditional, such as continental and eastern philosophy. In a philosophy with such scientific influence as this there was no room for phenomenology or idealism.

The importance of checking

Analytical philosophy very clearly established its desire to get closer to the testing methods of the natural sciences in an attempt not to be devalued or ignored.

In a world where empiricism and scientific inquiry were rapidly increasing their territory, the untestable ideas of ontology and metaphysics had to be eliminated.

In this way, analytical philosophy could then establish conceptualizations and arguments that could not be refuted from the scientific point of view.

For this, the conceptual analysis established logical empiricism and a priori knowledge as the main bases of this current, with the intention that its validity was more solid.

Representatives of analytical philosophy

Gottlob Frege

Known as the father of analytical philosophy, this German brought important advances to the intellectual community, such as the need for a more rigorous and specific approach in the philosophical field.

He worked extensively in the field of mathematics and logic, and developed the semantic and logical conceptualization of important notions.

Bertrand Russell

This English philosopher founded analytical philosophy on the work of Frege, after rebelling against the idealism that reigned within philosophy. Russell tried to eliminate philosophical assumptions that lacked verification, such as those concerning metaphysics.

Russell proposed creating a hierarchical language that would help eliminate self-reference, since only then could it be valid.

He was in favor of the idea that the world gives all meaning to language, and developed the theory of logical atomism.

Alfred North Whitehead

English philosopher and mathematician, creator of Frege's Logicism with Russell. He tried to show that mathematics can be reduced to fundamental logical principles. He was a teacher and, later, a great friend and colleague of Russell.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

He was a disciple of Russell. The Austrian Wittgenstein focused more on creating the ideal language, one that did not present the ambiguities so easily found in ordinary language.

Later, he established logical positivism or neopostivism, with which he supported the idea that mathematics and logic were tautologies while science could be verified empirically.

References

1. Aaron Preston. Analytic Philosophy. Recovered from iep.utm.edu
2. Stroll & Donellan. Analytic Philosophy. Recovered from britannica.com
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4. Akehurst, T. (2010) Cultural Politics of Analytic Philosophy: Britishness and the Specter of Europe. Continuum International Publishing Group.
5. Glock, Hans-Johann (2008) What is Analytics Philosophy. Cambridge University Press
6. Baillie, J. (1997) Contemporary Analytic Philosophy. Second Edition, Prentice Hall
7. Baceló A, Axel A. (2012) What is Analytical Philosophy? Recovered from philosophicas.unam.mx