Philosophical analysis is any of various techniques, typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition, in order to "break down" (i.e. analyze) philosophical issues. Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of concepts, known as conceptual analysis.
Method of analysis
While analysis is characteristic of the analytic tradition in philosophy, what is to be analyzed (the analysandum) often varies. In their papers, philosophers may focus on different areas. One might analyze linguistic phenomena such as sentences, or psychological phenomena such as sense data. However, arguably the most prominent analyses are written on concepts or propositions and are known as conceptual analysis (Foley 1996).
A.C. Ewing distinguished between two forms of philosophical analysis. The first is "what the persons who make a certain statement usually intend to assert" and the second "the qualities, relations and species of continuants mentioned in the statement". As an illustration he takes the statement "I see a tree", this statement could be analysed in terms what the everyday person intends what they say this or it could be analysed metaphysically by asserting representationalism.
Conceptual analysis consists primarily in breaking down or analyzing concepts into their constituent parts in order to gain knowledge or a better understanding of a particular philosophical issue in which the concept is involved (Beaney 2003). For example, the problem of free will in philosophy involves various key concepts, including the concepts of freedom, moral responsibility, determinism, ability, etc. The method of conceptual analysis tends to approach such a problem by breaking down the key concepts pertaining to the problem and seeing how they interact. Thus, in the long-standing debate on whether free will is compatible with the doctrine of determinism, several philosophers have proposed analyses of the relevant concepts to argue for either compatibilism or incompatibilism.
A famous example of conceptual analysis at its best is given by Bertrand Russell in his theory of descriptions. Russell attempted to analyze propositions that involved definite descriptions, which pick out a unique individual (such as "The tallest spy"), and indefinite descriptions, which pick out a set of individuals (such as "a spy"). In his analysis of definite descriptions, superficially, these descriptions have the standard subject-predicate form of a proposition: thus "The present king of France is bald" appears to be predicating "baldness" of the subject, "the present king of France". However, Russell noted that this is problematic, because there is no present king of France (France is no longer a monarchy). Normally, to decide whether a proposition of the standard subject-predicate form is true or false, one checks whether the subject is in the extension of the predicate. The proposition is then true if and only if the subject is in the extension of the predicate. The problem is that there is no present king of France, so the present king of France cannot be found on the list of bald things or non-bald things. So, it would appear that the proposition expressed by "The present king of France is bald" is neither true nor false. However, analyzing the relevant concepts and propositions, Russell proposed that what definite descriptions really express are not propositions of the subject-predicate form, but rather they express existentially quantified propositions. Thus, "The present king of France" is analyzed, according to Russell's theory of descriptions, as "There exists an individual who is currently the king of France, there is only one such individual, and that individual is bald." Now one can determine the truth value of the proposition. Indeed, it is false, because it is not the case that there exists a unique individual who is currently the king of France and is bald, since there is no present king of France.
Criticism
While the method of analysis is characteristic of contemporary analytic philosophy, its status continues to be a source of great controversy even among analytic philosophers. Several current criticisms of the analytic method derive from W.V. Quine's famous rejection of the analytic–synthetic distinction. While Quine's critique is well-known, it is highly controversial.
Further, the analytic method seems to rely on some sort of definitional structure of concepts, so that one can give necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of the concept. For example, the concept "bachelor" is often analyzed as having the concepts "unmarried" and "male" as its components. Thus, the definition or analysis of "bachelor" is thought to be an unmarried male. But one might worry that these so-called necessary and sufficient conditions do not apply in every case. Wittgenstein, for instance, argues that language (e.g., the word 'bachelor') is used for various purposes and in an indefinite number of ways. Wittgenstein's famous thesis states that meaning is determined by use. This means that, in each case, the meaning of 'bachelor' is determined by its use in a context. So if it can be shown that the word means different things across different contexts of use, then cases where its meaning cannot be essentially defined as 'unmarried man' seem to constitute counterexamples to this method of analysis. This is just one example of a critique of the analytic method derived from a critique of definitions. There are several other such critiques (Margolis & Laurence 2006). This criticism is often said to have originated primarily with Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations.
A third critique of the method of analysis derives primarily from psychological critiques of intuition. A key part of the analytic method involves analyzing concepts via "intuition tests". Philosophers tend to motivate various conceptual analyses by appeal to their intuitions about thought experiments. (See DePaul and Ramsey (1998) for a collection of current essays on the controversy over analysis as it relates to intuition and reflective equilibrium.)
In short, some philosophers feel strongly that the analytic method (especially conceptual analysis) is essential to and defines philosophy—e.g. Jackson (1998), Chalmers (1996), and Bealer (1998). Yet, some philosophers argue that the method of analysis is problematic—e.g. Stich (1998) and Ramsey (1998). Some, however, take the middle ground and argue that while analysis is largely a fruitful method of inquiry, philosophers should not limit themselves to only using the method of analysis.
See also
- Analytic philosophy
- Definitions of philosophy
- Thesis, antithesis, synthesis
Notes
- Ewing, A.C. (January 1935). "Two Kinds of Analysis". Analysis. 2 (4): 60–64. doi:10.1093/analys/2.4.60.
- This explication is only of a part of Russell's theory of descriptions and is quite brief and oversimplified.
- Bertolet, Rod (1999), "Theory of Descriptions", in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, second edition, New York: Cambridge University Press
References
- Bealer, George. (1998). "Intuition and the Autonomy of Philosophy". In M. DePaul & W. Ramsey (eds.) (1998), pp. 201–239.
- Beaney, Michael. (2003). "Analysis". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (link).
- Chalmers, David. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- DePaul, M. & Ramsey, W. (eds.). (1998). Rethinking Intuition: The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role in Philosophical Inquiry. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Foley, Richard. (1999). "Analysis". Entry in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, second edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Jackson, Frank. (1998). From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defense of Conceptual Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Margolis, E. & Laurence, S. (2006). "Concepts". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (link).
- Ramsey, William. (1998). "Prototypes and Conceptual Analysis". In M. DePaul & W. Ramsey (eds.) (1998), pp. 161–177.
- Stich, Stephen. (1998). "Reflective Equilibrium, Analytic Epistemology, and the Problem of Cognitive Diversity". In DePaul and Ramsey (eds.) (1998), pp. 95–112.
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1953). Philosophical Investigations.
External links
- Beaney, Michael. "Analysis". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Concepts" - an article by Margolis & Laurence in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (section 5 is a good, but short, presentation of the current issues surrounding conceptual analysis in philosophy).
- "Analytic Philosophy" - an article by Aaron Preston in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- "Water's water everywhere" by Jerry Fodor - a review of C. Hughes's book Kripke: Names, Necessity and Identity at the London Review of Books (Fodor goes into several issues regarding the philosophical method of analysis).
Philosophical analysis is any of various techniques typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition in order to break down i e analyze philosophical issues Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of concepts known as conceptual analysis Method of analysisWhile analysis is characteristic of the analytic tradition in philosophy what is to be analyzed the analysandum often varies In their papers philosophers may focus on different areas One might analyze linguistic phenomena such as sentences or psychological phenomena such as sense data However arguably the most prominent analyses are written on concepts or propositions and are known as conceptual analysis Foley 1996 A C Ewing distinguished between two forms of philosophical analysis The first is what the persons who make a certain statement usually intend to assert and the second the qualities relations and species of continuants mentioned in the statement As an illustration he takes the statement I see a tree this statement could be analysed in terms what the everyday person intends what they say this or it could be analysed metaphysically by asserting representationalism Conceptual analysis consists primarily in breaking down or analyzing concepts into their constituent parts in order to gain knowledge or a better understanding of a particular philosophical issue in which the concept is involved Beaney 2003 For example the problem of free will in philosophy involves various key concepts including the concepts of freedom moral responsibility determinism ability etc The method of conceptual analysis tends to approach such a problem by breaking down the key concepts pertaining to the problem and seeing how they interact Thus in the long standing debate on whether free will is compatible with the doctrine of determinism several philosophers have proposed analyses of the relevant concepts to argue for either compatibilism or incompatibilism A famous example of conceptual analysis at its best is given by Bertrand Russell in his theory of descriptions Russell attempted to analyze propositions that involved definite descriptions which pick out a unique individual such as The tallest spy and indefinite descriptions which pick out a set of individuals such as a spy In his analysis of definite descriptions superficially these descriptions have the standard subject predicate form of a proposition thus The present king of France is bald appears to be predicating baldness of the subject the present king of France However Russell noted that this is problematic because there is no present king of France France is no longer a monarchy Normally to decide whether a proposition of the standard subject predicate form is true or false one checks whether the subject is in the extension of the predicate The proposition is then true if and only if the subject is in the extension of the predicate The problem is that there is no present king of France so the present king of France cannot be found on the list of bald things or non bald things So it would appear that the proposition expressed by The present king of France is bald is neither true nor false However analyzing the relevant concepts and propositions Russell proposed that what definite descriptions really express are not propositions of the subject predicate form but rather they express existentially quantified propositions Thus The present king of France is analyzed according to Russell s theory of descriptions as There exists an individual who is currently the king of France there is only one such individual and that individual is bald Now one can determine the truth value of the proposition Indeed it is false because it is not the case that there exists a unique individual who is currently the king of France and is bald since there is no present king of France CriticismWhile the method of analysis is characteristic of contemporary analytic philosophy its status continues to be a source of great controversy even among analytic philosophers Several current criticisms of the analytic method derive from W V Quine s famous rejection of the analytic synthetic distinction While Quine s critique is well known it is highly controversial Further the analytic method seems to rely on some sort of definitional structure of concepts so that one can give necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of the concept For example the concept bachelor is often analyzed as having the concepts unmarried and male as its components Thus the definition or analysis of bachelor is thought to be an unmarried male But one might worry that these so called necessary and sufficient conditions do not apply in every case Wittgenstein for instance argues that language e g the word bachelor is used for various purposes and in an indefinite number of ways Wittgenstein s famous thesis states that meaning is determined by use This means that in each case the meaning of bachelor is determined by its use in a context So if it can be shown that the word means different things across different contexts of use then cases where its meaning cannot be essentially defined as unmarried man seem to constitute counterexamples to this method of analysis This is just one example of a critique of the analytic method derived from a critique of definitions There are several other such critiques Margolis amp Laurence 2006 This criticism is often said to have originated primarily with Wittgenstein s Philosophical Investigations A third critique of the method of analysis derives primarily from psychological critiques of intuition A key part of the analytic method involves analyzing concepts via intuition tests Philosophers tend to motivate various conceptual analyses by appeal to their intuitions about thought experiments See DePaul and Ramsey 1998 for a collection of current essays on the controversy over analysis as it relates to intuition and reflective equilibrium In short some philosophers feel strongly that the analytic method especially conceptual analysis is essential to and defines philosophy e g Jackson 1998 Chalmers 1996 and Bealer 1998 Yet some philosophers argue that the method of analysis is problematic e g Stich 1998 and Ramsey 1998 Some however take the middle ground and argue that while analysis is largely a fruitful method of inquiry philosophers should not limit themselves to only using the method of analysis See alsoAnalytic philosophy Definitions of philosophy Thesis antithesis synthesisNotesEwing A C January 1935 Two Kinds of Analysis Analysis 2 4 60 64 doi 10 1093 analys 2 4 60 This explication is only of a part of Russell s theory of descriptions and is quite brief and oversimplified Bertolet Rod 1999 Theory of Descriptions in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy second edition New York Cambridge University PressReferencesBealer George 1998 Intuition and the Autonomy of Philosophy In M DePaul amp W Ramsey eds 1998 pp 201 239 Beaney Michael 2003 Analysis The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy link Chalmers David 1996 The Conscious Mind In Search of a Fundamental Theory Oxford Oxford University Press DePaul M amp Ramsey W eds 1998 Rethinking Intuition The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role in Philosophical Inquiry Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield Foley Richard 1999 Analysis Entry in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy second edition New York Cambridge University Press Jackson Frank 1998 From Metaphysics to Ethics A Defense of Conceptual Analysis Oxford Oxford University Press Margolis E amp Laurence S 2006 Concepts The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy link Ramsey William 1998 Prototypes and Conceptual Analysis In M DePaul amp W Ramsey eds 1998 pp 161 177 Stich Stephen 1998 Reflective Equilibrium Analytic Epistemology and the Problem of Cognitive Diversity In DePaul and Ramsey eds 1998 pp 95 112 Wittgenstein Ludwig 1953 Philosophical Investigations External linksBeaney Michael Analysis In Zalta Edward N ed Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Concepts an article by Margolis amp Laurence in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy section 5 is a good but short presentation of the current issues surrounding conceptual analysis in philosophy Analytic Philosophy an article by Aaron Preston in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Water s water everywhere by Jerry Fodor a review of C Hughes s book Kripke Names Necessity and Identity at the London Review of Books Fodor goes into several issues regarding the philosophical method of analysis
