philosophy of language, Philosophical study of the nature and use of natural languages and the relations between language, language users, and the world. It encompasses the philosophical study of linguistic meaning (see semantics), the philosophical study of language use in communication (see pragmatics), and philosophical reflection on the nature and scientific status of linguistic theories, known as the philosophy of linguistics. Major areas of investigation have included the theory of reference and the theory of truth. It was the dominant field in analytic philosophy for most the 20th century.
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Sir Michael A.E. Dummett Summary
Sir Michael A.E. Dummett English philosopher who did influential work in the philosophy of language, metaphysics, logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and the history of analytic philosophy. He was also one of the foremost expositors of the work of the German mathematical logician Gottlob Frege
Noam Chomsky Summary
Noam Chomsky American theoretical linguist whose work from the 1950s revolutionized the field of linguistics by treating language as a uniquely human, biologically based cognitive capacity. Through his contributions to linguistics and related fields, including cognitive psychology and the
Hilary Putnam Summary
Hilary Putnam leading American philosopher who made major contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics, and the philosophy of logic. He is best known for his semantic externalism, according