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6 - Frege’s Legacy in the Philosophy of Language and Mind

from Part II - Some Foundational Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2021

By
Eros Corazza
Edited by
Piotr Stalmaszczyk
Piotr Stalmaszczyk
Affiliation:
University of Lodz, Poland
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Summary

Leibniz (1646–1716) claimed that language is the mirror of the mind. Since, unlike the omniscient God, we do not have direct access to other people’s minds, we can grasp what they think, wish, believe, etc. via the sentences they use in the expression of their thoughts. So the story goes. Frege reinforces this view when he initiated what is now known as the linguistic turn. Actually, according to Dummett (1993), Frege is the father of analytic philosophy insofar as he stressed that in order to explain what a thought is we have to focus on the sentence used to voice it. Thus, language takes priority in order of explanation. For, following Dummett, there are two axioms of analytic philosophy: (i) a philosophical account of thought can be attained through a philosophical account of language and (ii) a comprehensive account can only be so attained.

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The Cambridge Handbook of the Philosophy of Language , pp. 124 - 138
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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