The discovery of non-Euclidean geometries, the idea that geometric axioms are not synthetic a priori, the demonstration that mathematics can be reduced to logic and that the propositions of mathematics are analytic led to the birth of Analytical Philosophy.
FREGE (1848-1925)
Gottlob Frege was a German philosopher, mathematician and logician. He is considered one of the founders of modern logic and made important contributions to the field of philosophy of language.
According to Frege, mathematics can be reduced to logic and mathematical propositions are a priori analytic propositions, they can be derived from logical axioms and definitions. He developed a theorem showing that any mathematical concept can be determined by a definition.
His analyses on the meaning of language also formed the basic concepts of philosophy of language. He presents meaning and reference as two different aspects that determine the way an expression points to. Meaning is the concept that a term expresses; the reference of the term determines the meaning. For example, the morning star and the evening star are names with different meanings but the same reference.
MOORE (1873-1958)
George Edward Moore is a British philosopher and one of the important figures of analytical philosophy. He is especially known for his contributions to ethics, epistemology and philosophy of language.
Moore proposes a method of analysis based on first dividing a complex into its basic parts and then examining the parts. Defending the concept of common sense in response to metaphysics, he emphasizes the importance of the information people obtain from their daily experiences. Common sense propositions are divided into two groups as our own experiences and what others know as their own experiences.
There are three categories in the field of existence; particulars, facts and universals. Particulars include material objects, sense data, acts of consciousness, spatial and temporal data. Facts are things that are believed to be true, such as mathematical equations and sentences in the informant mood. He also defines universals as things that are or are not connected or connected. Only particulars really exist, the others simply exist.
Moore's paradox; The contradiction contained in a statement of the form ‘it is raining but I do not believe it’ is that, although it is not expected that any person would make such a statement, the proposition itself is not a logical contradiction.
Moore’s work has contributed to the development of analyses of the meaning and expression of language. He has addressed philosophical problems by subjecting language to logical and conceptual analysis.
Moore opposes naturalistic approaches in moral philosophy, says that good cannot be defined, good is an unnatural property. It is not possible to prove whether moral propositions are true or false.
RUSSEL (1872-1970)
Bertrand Russell was an English philosopher, mathematician and writer, and one of the founding figures of analytic philosophy. He made significant contributions to the history of philosophy, physics, logic, epistemology, ethics and political philosophy.
He developed his views on the constituent elements of things we encounter in our daily lives as logical atomism. According to this approach, our knowledge consists of compound propositions formed by bringing together basic atomic propositions and their truth functions.
The primary states of our perceptions are not objects or properties, but events. Science and philosophy are similar to each other in terms of their methods and ways of progress.
WITTGENSTEIN (1889-1951)
Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher. His work focused on language, logic and meaning.
Wittgenstein, who examined the logical structure of language in his early work Tractatus, questions how language represents the world. This work is an effort to determine the limits of logic and language. He tries to determine what is unthinkable within the limits of language, the key is logic. The world is what it is. The world is not the sum of things but of facts. The logical picture of facts is a thought. The sum of true thoughts is a picture of the world. We paint facts to ourselves. A picture is a fact. Facts may be different from pictures. Structure is the interconnections of the elements that make up the picture. The proposition shows its meaning, the basic elements of the proposition are names. Mystical things cannot be put into words, they make themselves obvious. Ethics cannot be put into words, they are transcendental. We must keep silent about what we cannot speak. The limit of what is thinkable is drawn from within language.
In his mature period, in his book Philosophical Investigations, he associates philosophical problems with the misuse of language. Misunderstanding of language leads to philosophical confusion. The logical analysis presented in the Tractatus seems to be insufficient in revealing the essence of language. Analysis, trying to explain with other words, searching for something below the surface and trying to find it through analysis leads to error. It is necessary to describe (describe) rather than explain. Philosophy is a war waged against the fascination of our intelligence through language.
A language game is an activity that includes spoken or written words, words have a place in this activity and thus point to the things they refer to. It is wrong to prioritize how language should be, instead how it is should be prioritized. An exemplary definition is only useful within a language game. Instead of trying to separate, classify and relate concepts to precise boundaries, Wittgenstein introduces the concept of family resemblances. Language takes shape, changes, develops within an infinite variety of activities and appears to us as a whole through family resemblances.
Developing the concepts of Speaking the Same Language and Language Games, it describes how language functions in social context and practice, meaning is determined by use. Words must be brought back from their metaphysical use to their everyday use. Do not think, but look. Well-founded beliefs are based on ill-founded beliefs.