Philosophy of Language

by William P. Alston

Foundations of Philosophy
Preface
Introduction
Theories of meaning
Meaning & the use of language
Language & its near relations
Empiricist criteria of meaningfulness
Dimensions of meaning
For Futher Reading
Index

Genres: Philosophy, Language, Linguistics

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

William Payne Alston (November 29, 1921 – September 13, 2009) was an American philosopher. He made influential contributions to the philosophy of language, epistemology, and Christian philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and taught at the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, University of Illinois, and Syracuse University.

Reviews

[John Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very old book. Nevertheless, this is a useful and informative book. He spends chapter One talking about how issues of language arise in other areas of philosophy. It is a very good discussion.

He spends the rest of the book on the subject of meaning.

[Mina]

Unnecessarily verbose, lazily imprecise, annoying me to no end.

May the author analyze postmodern poetry. The result will be either an apoplexy attack or a really large sequel.

[Lee Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

《语言哲学》，读了第一章。弃了，原因就是读不懂。有些段落读了好几遍都不懂作者在说什么。通读过包括柏拉图、尼采等人作品，自学过几种哲学公开课和几本教材，却不懂此书。所以不是我的错，而是作者的错。一是作者囿于演绎法，语言采用大量的复合句；二是译文可能失真。有些哲学家或者说教哲学就是用大量学术化的语句与冗长的形式逻辑进行论证，虽然很规范（本书就很规范），但特没劲。大哲学家能留给凡人的东西都是类比论证，比如柏拉图的洞穴之喻；太阳之喻。萨特的桥喻。尼采是个中的高手：“如果诸神存在，还有什么可以创造？……如果诸神存在，我怎么能忍受不是上帝的自己？因此，诸神并不存在。查拉图斯特拉如是说。”请问这是论证么？这是逻辑么？当然不是。这是不讲道理的哲学，但是我和尼采的心就相通了。所以中庸之道费而隐。夫妇之愚，可以与知焉。学哲学的目是什么，爱智求真。尤其我不是专业的。我享受是求真的过程。这书就不读了。反正我也能创造出自己的语言哲学。