7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 1/55

Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (1848 - 1925) was a German mathematician, logicianand philosopher, who helped found both modern mathematical Logic and thebeginnings of the nal!tic "hilosoph! mo#ement$

 lthough his wor% was little known and poorly received during his lifetime, it hase&erted a fundamental and far-reaching influence on 2'th entur! philosoph!$ elater abandoned his e&tensi#e wor% on Logicism, but he directl! influenced the nextgeneration of logicians and philosophers, (particularl! *ertrand +ussell, Ludwigittgenstein and the Logical "ositi#ism mo#ement) and, after his death, his "redicateLogic #irtuall! wholl! superseded traditional forms of  Logic$

Life

rege (pronounced FRAY-ga) was born on 8 .o#ember 1848 in Wismar  in northernGermany$ is father, Karl Alexander Frege, was the founder of a girls high school,

of which he was the headmaster  until his death in 18//0 his mother, AugusteWilhelmine !ophie "n#e $ialloblot%ky& was also a teacher at the school, and too% ito#er after her husbands death$

rege studied at the local high school in ismar from 18/4 until 18/9$ *oth histeacher, Leo !achse and his father (who wrote a te&tboo% on the Germanlanguage for children aged 9-1, the first section of which dealt with the structure andlogic of language) pla!ed important roles in determining rege3s future career $

e continue his studies in chemistr!, philosoph! and mathematics at the 'niversity of(ena in 18/9, where his most important teacher (and later friend, benefactor and

regular correspondent) was the ph!sicist, mathematician and in#entor )rnstAbbe (194' - 19'5), as well as Karl !nell, *ermann !ch+ffer  and thephilosopher Kuno Fischer  (1824 - 19')$ rom 181 to 18, rege attendedthe 'niversity of G,ttingen, then the leading uni#ersit! in mathematics in erman-spea%ing territories, where he was lectured b! Alfred lebsch, )rnst!chering, Wilhelm Weber , )duard .iecke and the philosopher .udolf *ermannLot%e(181 - 1881)$

 fter recei#ing his doctorate in mathematics (geometr!) at 6ttingen in 18,rege returned to the 7ni#ersit! of ena to ta%e up a lectureship (on therecommendation of rnst bbe)$ e remained at ena until his retirement in 1918,

accumulating the :ualifications and positions (man! of them unpaid) of *abilitation in184, /rofessor )xtraordinarius in 189, and0rdenlicher *onorarprofessor  in189/$

;hough his education and earl! wor% were mainl! mathematical, andespeciall! geometrical (and his employment continued to be as a mathematician),reges thought soon turned to Logic and the "hilosoph! of Language$ is initialintention was to show that mathematics grew out of Logic (%nown as Logicism), and his

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 2/55

earl! 189 wor% "Begriffsschrift"  ("Concept Script" ) bro%e new ground and mar%eda turning point in the histor! of Logic, with its rigorous treatment of the ideasof functions andvariables$

<ome time after the publication of "Begriffsschrift" , rege was married to 1argaret

Lieseburg, and the! were to ha#e at leasttwo children, both of whom died young$=ears later, the! adopted a son, Alfred$ owe#er, little else is %nown about regesfamil! life$

is published wor% was generall! unfavourably reviewed b! his contemporaries, andhe was e#en forced to arrange some publications at his own expense$ >ue to acombination of this, the death of his wife in 19'5 and his frustration with his failure tofind an ade:uate solution to .ussells /aradox (see below), rege seems to ha#e losthis intellectual steam around 19'/, although he continued to publish articles, and toinfluence the next generation of logicians and philosophers, (particularl!*ertrand+ussell, Ludwig ittgenstein and the Logical "ositi#ist .udolf arnap (who was one of 

reges students from 191' to 191)$?n the last decades of his life, he became increasingl! paranoid, and wrote asuccession of rabid treatises attac%ing parliamentar! democrac!, labour unions andforeigners (particularl! (ews)$ fter his retirement in 1918, rege mo#ed to $adKleinen, not far from his birthplace in ismar$ e died on 2/ ul! 1925 in $adKleinen at the age of /$

Work *ac% to ;op

reges earl! intention was to show that mathematics grew out of Logic with no need

of non-logical axioms (a #iew %nown asLogicism), but in so doing he de#isedtechni:ues that too% him farbeyond traditional ristotelian s!llogistic Logic and <toicpropositional Logic$

<tarting with his ground-brea%ing 189 "Begriffsschrift"  ("Concept Script" ) hein#ented "redicate Logic in large part than%s to his in#ention of 2uantified variables,which e#entuall! became ubi:uitous in both mathematics and Logic, and sol#edtheproblem of multiple generality (a failure in traditional logic to describecertain intuitively valid inferences)$ Later, he attempted to deri#e all of the laws ofarithmetic, b! use of his s!mbolism, from axioms he asserted as logical, resultingin"Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik"  ("The Foundations of Arithmetic" ) of 1884 and

his magnum opus "Grundgesetze der Arithmetik"  ("Basic Laws of Arithmetic" ) of189$

ust as @olume 2 of the "Basic Laws"  was about to go to press in 19', *ertrand+ussell wrote to rege, pointing out what has become %nown as .ussells/aradox (the set of things, x , that are such that x  is not a member  of x ), whichhe never resolvedto his own satisfaction$ Later, his frustration o#er this caused regeto completel! abandon his Logicism, and in his golden !ears he started to de#elop a

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 3/55

completel! new theor! of the nature of arithmetic based on Aantian pure intuitions of space$

reges wor% in Logic was little recogni%ed in his da!, partl! due to his uni:ue andpeculiar diagrammatic notation, but theanalysis of logical concepts and the

machiner! of formali%ation that is essential to *ertrand +ussell and lfred .orthhiteheads "rincipia !athematica" , as well as Kurt G,dels incompletenesstheorems and Alfred 3arskis theor! of truth, is ultimatel! due to rege$ e did not li#eto see his brand of Logic (parado&icall!, largel! due to the championship of +ussell)#irtuall! wholl! supersede earlier forms$

*ut, in addition to his wor% on Logic, rege is also one of the founders of nal!tic"hilosoph!, mainl! because of his contributions to the "hilosoph! of Language$ ?n fact,the challenge of de#eloping new and interesting theories on the nature of language,functions, concepts and philosophical logic, so e&ercised him that he broke off  his wor%on mathematical logic for se#eral !ears$

e is particularl! noted for his 1892 paper "#er Sinn und Bedeutung"  ("$n Senseand %eference" ), in which he distinguished the two different aspects ofthe significance of an expression$ ?n distinguishing between sense (the meaning of aword or obBect, which can #ar! widel! between different people) and reference (theactual obBect indicated, which remains constant), rege realiCed that the meaning of agi#en sentence must be deri#ed from the meaning of its parts, and that therefore aword onl! has a definite meaning in the context of a whole sentence$ Dther importantarticles in a similar #ein include "Funktion und Begriff"  ("Function and Concept" ,1891) and "#er Begriff und Gegenstand"  ("$n Concept and $#&ect" , 1892)$

 4ohn 5ewey (1859 - 1952) was a 67th entury American philosopher, ps!chologistand educational reformer$ long with harles <anders "eirce and illiam ames, he isrecogniCed as one of the founders of the largel! merican philosophical schoolof "ragmatism and his own doctrine of ?nstrumentalism$ e was also one of the fathersof Functionalism (or Functional /sychology), and a leading representati#e oftheprogressive movement in merican education during the first half of the 2'thentur!$

e de#eloped a broad body of work encompassing #irtuall! all of the main areas ofphilosoph!, and wrote e&tensi#el! on social issues in popular publications, gaining areputation as a leading social commentator  of his time$

Life

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 4/55

>ewe! was born on 2' Dctober 1859 in $urlington8 9ermont, the third of four sonsborn to Archibald !prague 5ewey (who owned a grocer! store) and LucinaArtemesia "n#e .ich& (a de#outl! religious woman), of modest famil! origins$ eattended the 'niversity of 9ermont in *urlington, and graduated in 189$ >uring thistime, he was e&posed to evolutionary theory, and the theor! of natural

selectioncontinued to ha#e a life-long impact upon >ewe!s thought$ lthough thephilosoph! teaching at @ermont was somewhat limited, his teacher, *: A: /: 3orrey, alearned scholar with broad philosophical interests and s!mpathies, was decisive in>ewe!s philosophical de#elopment$

 fter graduating in 189, he wor%ed for two !ears as a high school teacher  in Dil it!,"enns!l#ania, but then borrowed mone! from his aunt in order to enter graduateschool in philosoph! at the <chool of rts E <ciences at (ohns *opkins 'niversity in*altimore$ ;wo teachers in particular had a lasting influence on himF the erman-trained egelian philosopher, George !ylvester 1orris (184' - 1899), and thee&perimental ps!chologist, Granville !tanley *all (1844 - 1924)$ e recei#ed his "h$>$

in 1884, and left to ta%e up a facult! position at the 'niversity of 1ichigan, which he%ept for ten !ears, and during which time he wrote his first boo%s$ e married his firstwife, Alice hipman in 188/, and the couple had six children (with onl! four sur#i#inginto adulthood) before lice died in 192$

?n 1894, >ewe! Boined the newl! founded 'niversity of hicago where hisearl! ?dealism ga#e wa! to an empirically-based theory of knowledge, and he startedto align his ideals with the emerging "ragmatic school of thought$ hile at hicago, heproduced a collection of essa!s entitled "Thought and its Su#&ect'!atter" , and hisfirst maBor wor% on education, "The School and Societ(  in 1899$ ;his wor% was basedon the 'niversity of hicago Laboratory !chools (also %nown as the G>ewe!

<choolG) which he founded in 189/, which taught according to his progressi#e principlesof hands-on learning and exploration$ ?n 1899, he was elected president ofthe American /sychological Association, and in 19'5 he became president oftheAmerican /hilosophical Association$

a#ing resigned from the 7ni#ersit! of hicago o#er disagreements withthe administration in 19'4, he too% up a position as professor of philosoph!at olumbia 'niversity in .ew =or%, and he taught there until his retirement in 19'$e de#eloped close contacts with man! philosophers wor%ing from divergent points of view in the intellectuall! stimulating atmosphere of the north-eastern uni#ersities,which ser#ed to nurture and enrich his thought$ e published two importantboo%s, "The )nfluence of Darwin on hilosoph( and $ther *ssa(s inContemporar( Thought"  (191') and "*ssa(s in *+perimental Logic"  (191/)$ >uringthis time, he travelled the world as a philosopher, social and political theorist andeducational consultant, including trips to apan, hina, ;ur%e!, 7<<+ and He&ico$

is interest in educational theory also continued during these !ears, fostered b! hiswor% at the 3eachers ollege at olumbia, leading to the publication of ",ow -eThink"  in 191' and, his most important wor% in the field, "Democrac( and

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 5/55

*ducation"  in 191/$ long with fellow olumbia professors harles $eard (184 -1948), 3horstein 9eblen (185 - 1929) and(ames *arvey .obinson (18/ - 19/), hefounded the ;ew !chool for !ocial .esearch in 1919 as a modern, progressi#e, freeschool$

>ewe! retired from acti#e teaching in 19', occasionall! teaching as professoremeritus until 199$ owe#er, his acti#ities as apublic figure and productivephilosopher  continued unabated, including fre:uent contributions to popularmaga%ines such as "The .ew %epu#lic"  and ".ation" , and participation in se#eralprestigious lecture series$ e was in#ol#ed in a #ariet! of political causes,including womens suffrage, the unioni%ation of teachers and the founding ofthe ;ational Association for the Advancement of olored /eople, and he wasin#ol#ed in the ommission of <n2uiry into the harges Against Leon 3rotsky atthe 1oscow 3rial$

?n 194/, almost two decades after his first wife died, he married .oberta Lowit%

Grant, and the couple adopted two *elgian orphans$ >ewe! continued towork #igorousl! throughout his retirement, including wor%son Logic, esthetics, pistemolog!and "olitics$ e died of pneumonia in his .ew =or%home on 1 une 1952, aged 92$

Work *ac% to ;op

>ewe!s output was prodigiousF =7 books and appro&imatel! >77 articles in o#er ?=7 4ournals$ Han! of his most renowned wor%s were published after he was sixty yearsold$ <ome of his best %nown publications include "Democrac( and*ducation" (191/), ",uman .ature and Conduct"  (1922), "*+perience and

.ature"  (1925) and "The /uest for Certaint("  (1929)$

>ewe! is considered one of the three central figures in merican "ragmatism, alongwith harles <anders "eirce (who coinedthe term) and illiamames (who populari%ed it)$ owe#er, >ewe! did not identify himself  asa "ragmatist per se, but instead referred to his philosoph! as ?nstrumentalism, a similarbut separate concept$

<impl! put, the doctrine of "ragmatism holds that the meaning of an! concept can bee:uated with its concei#able operational or practical conse2uences, and that practicalconse2uences or real effects are #ital components of both meaning and truth$ #en

more simpl!, something is true onl! insofar as it works$?nstrumentalism, on the other hand, is the methodological view that concepts andtheories are merel! useful instruments, and their worth is measured not b! whetherthe concepts and theories are true or false (?nstrumentalism denies that theoriesare truth-evaluable) or whether the! correctl! depict realit!, but b! how effective the!are in explaining and predictingphenomena$ n important aspect of >ewe!sphilosoph! is that it starts from the point of #iew of allibilism, that absolute

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 6/55

certainty about %nowledge is impossible, and all claims to %nowledge could, at least inprinciple, be mistaken$ nother important aspect is his belief that humanit! should beconsidered not Bust as a spectator  in the world, but as an agent$

>ewe!s o#erall ethical stance can be described as @meliorism@F the belief that this life

is neither perfectly good nor bad, and it can be impro#ed onl! through human effort$e belie#ed that philosoph!s moti#e for e&isting is to make life better , and this shouldbe approached from a practical @bottom-up@ starting point, rather than thetheoretical @top-down@ approach of most traditional philosoph!$ e was aconfirmed atheist, reBecting belief in an! static ideal, such as a theistic od, (althoughhe ne#ertheless honoured the important rIle thatreligious institutions and practices pla!ed in human life), and belie#ed thatonl!scientific method could reliabl! further human good$

>ewe! has made arguabl! the most significant contribution to the de#elopmentof educational thinking and the "hilosoph! of ducation in the 2'th entur!$ is

philosophical "ragmatism, his concern with interaction, reflection and experience,and his interest in community and democracy, all came together to form a highl!suggesti#e educati#e form$ onsistent with his #iew that human thought should beunderstood as practical problem-solving, which proceeds b! testing rivalhypotheses againstexperience, he ad#ocated an educational system withcontinued experimentation and vocational training to e:uip students tosol#e practical problems$ e also emphasiCed @learning-by-doing@ and theincorporation of the students past experiences into the classroom$ ?n his "Democrac( and *ducation"  of 191/, he describes in detail how an abilit! to respond creatively tocontinual changes in the natural order #itall! pro#ides for individual and communitylife$

e was also a primar! originator of Functional /sychology (or Functionalism), whichrefers to a general ps!chological approach that #iews mental life and beha#iour in termsof active adaptation to the persons environment$ s such, it is notreadil! testablein controlled experiments or trained introspection (as the pre#ailing structuralistpsychology approach of the end of the 19th entur! suggested)$

)dmund Gustav Albrecht *usserl (1859 - 198) was a 1oravian-Germanphilosopher and mathematician (usuall! considered German as most ofhis adult lifewas spent in erman!), best %nown as the father  of the 2'thentur! "henomenolog!mo#ement$

is wor% bro%e with the dominant "ositi#ism of his da!, gi#ing weight to sub4ectiveexperience as the source of all of our %nowledge of obBecti#e phenomena$ longwitheorg egel and his own student Hartin eidegger , he was a ma4or influence onthe whole of 2'th entur! ontinental "hilosoph!$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 7/55

Life

usserl was born on 8 pril 1859 in /rossnit%8 1oravia (present-da! "rosteBo# inthe%ech .epublic, but then part of the Austrian )mpire)$ is father  was a ewishclothing merchant, and the language of the usserl home was

probabl! iddishalthough it was not an orthodox household$

is father had the means and the inclination to send dmund awa! to 9ienna at theage of 1' to begin his erman classical education (and he was luc%! that therecentliberali%ation of the laws go#erning "rossnitCs ews allowed this), atlhough Busta !ear later, in 18', he mo#ed bac% closer to home to the <taatsg!mnasium in 0lmBt%$e was remembered there as a mediocre student who ne#ertheless lo#edmathematics and science$ e graduated in 18/ and went to Leip%ig for uni#ersit!studies, where he studied mathematics, ph!sics, and philosoph!$

e mo#ed to the 'niversity of $erlin in 188 for further studies in mathematics, and

then to 9ienna (under the super#ision of Leo A6nigsberger), where he completed hisdoctorate in 188, at the age of 24, with a dissertation on the theor! of the calculus of#ariations$ e briefl! held an academic post in *erlin, before returning againto 9ienna in 1884 in order to attend the philosoph! lectures of Fran% $rentano (188 -191), which had a great impact on usserl and was instrumental in usserls decisiontodedicate his life to philosoph!$

?n 188/, usserl went to the 'niversity of *alle to stud! psychology and to obtain hishabilitation under arl !tumpf  (1848 - 19/), a former student of *rentano$ ;here healso converted to hristianit! (#angelical Lutheran) and was baptiCed$ emarried1alvine harlotte !teinschneider , a woman from the "rossnitC ewish

communit!, who was also baptiCed before the wedding, and the couple were toha#e three children$ e remained at alle teaching as an associate professor  until19'1, and wrote his important earl! boo%s, including the "hilosophie der

 Arithmetik"  ("hilosoph( of Arithmetic" ) of 1891 and the "Logische0ntersuchungen"  ("Logical )n1estigations" ) of 19'1$

?n 19'1, usserl Boined the facult! at the 'niversity of G,ttingen, where he taught for1/ !ears, and where he wor%ed out thedefinitive formulations of his theor!of "henomenolog!, which he presented in his 191 ")deen zu einer reinenh2nomenologie und ph2nomenologischen hilosophie"  (")deas ertaining to aure henomenolog( and to a henomenological hilosoph(" )$ rom about 19'5,

usserls students formed themsel#es into a group with a common st!le of life andwor%, referring to usserl as Gthe masterG$ ;he onset of World War < disrupted the circleof usserls !ounger colleagues, and when his son, Wolfgang, died at @erdun in 191/,usserl obser#ed a !ear of mourning and %ept silence professionall! during that time$

?n 191/, usserl accepted an appointment to a professorship at Freiburg im $reisgau,a position he retained until he retiredfrom teaching in 1928$ mong his students atreiburg were Hartin eidegger , (who usserl alwa!s loo%ed on as his legitimate heir ,

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 8/55

although their relationship cooled as eidegger s path too% him more in the directionof &istentialism) and .udolf arnap(1891 - 19'), a leading figure in the 9iennaircle and a prominent ad#ocate of Logical "ositi#ism$

>uring this time, he continued to work on manuscripts that would be published after

his death as #olumes two and three of the")deen" , and to refine his "henomenolog!, aswell as on man! other pro4ects$ fter his retirement, he continued to ma%e use of thereiburg library until denied b! the anti-(ewish legislation passed b! the .ational<ocialists (.aCis) in pril 19$ ;he rise of the ;a%is in erman! also caused usserlto definiti#el! break with eidegger $

usserl died of pleuris! on 28 pril 198 (ood rida!) near Freiburg, erman!$

Work *ac% to ;op

usserl de#eloped his own individual style of wor%ingF all of his thoughts were

concei#ed in writing, and during his life he produced more than =78777 pages$

7nder the super#ision of arl !tumpf  (1848 - 19/), a former student of Fran%$rentano (188 - 191), usserl wrote "#er den Begriff der 3ahl"  ("$n theconcept of .um#er" ) in 188, which would ser#e as the base for his first ma4or work,the"hilosophie der Arithmetik"  ("hilosoph( of Arithmetic" ) of 1891$ ?n these earl!wor%s, he tried to combine mathematics, ps!cholog! and philosoph!, his main goalbeing to pro#ide a sound foundation for mathematics$

e published his ma4or philosophical works while at the 'niversity of G,ttingenFthe "Logische 0ntersuchungen"  ("Logical )n1estigations" ) in 19'1 (produced after

an intensi#e stud! of the *ritish mpiricists), and the first #olume of the ")deen zu einer reinen h2nomenologie und ph2nomenologischen hilosophie"  (")deasertaining to a ure henomenolog( and to a henomenological hilosoph(" ) in191$ ?t was in these wor%s, particularl! in the ")deen" , that he introduced the maBorthemes of his theor! of "henomenolog!, and usserl himself belie#ed that his wor%represented the culmination of the whole of philosophy from "lato on, because, ashe saw it, he had disco#ered a description of realit! which could not be denied$

<imilar to >escartes, more than two centuries earlier, usserl started from thestandpoint that, for each of us, there is onl! one thing which is indubitably certain,namel! our own conscious awareness$ ;hat, he concluded, must be the place to start

to build our %nowledge of the world around us$ owe#er, our awareness andconsciousness must be awareness and consiousnessof something, and we cannotdistinguish from experience alone between states of consciousness and ob4ects ofconsciousness$ usserl agreed with <%eptics down the ages who ha#e asserted thatwe can never know whether obBects of consciouness ha#e an independentexistence separate from us, but he insisted that the! do indubitabl! e&ist as obBects ofconsciousness for us and so can be investigated as such without ma%ingan! unwarranted assumptions about their independent e&istence$ ?t was this general

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 9/55

idea of usserls that launched the influential school of philosoph! %nownas"henomenolog!$

is fundamental methodological principle was what he called @phenomenologicalreduction@, essentiall! a %ind of reflection on intellectual content$ e asserted that

he could Bustifiabl! CbracketD the data of consciousness b! suspending allpreconceptions about it, including (and especiall!) those drawn from what he calledthe Cnaturalistic standpointD$ ;hus, it reall! did not matter , in his philosoph!, whetheran obBect under discussion reall! e&isted or not so long as he could at least concei#e ofthe obBect, and obBects of pure imagination could be e&amined with the sameseriousness as data ta%en from theob4ective world$

usserl concluded, then, that consciousness has no life apart fromthe ob4ects or phenomena it considers$ e called thischaracteristic CintentionalityD (or ob4ect-directedness), following *rentano, and itembodied the idea that the human mind is the onl! thing is the whole uni#erse that is

able to direct itself  toward other things outside of itself $ usserl described a concepthe called intentional content, something in the mind which was sort of li%e a built-in mental description of e&ternal realit!, and which allowed us to perceive andremember aspects of obBects in the real world outside$

usserl continued to refine his "henomenolog! throughout his life$ is last three maBorboo%s were "4orlesungen zur h2nomenologie des inneren3eit#ewusstseins"  ("Lectures on the henomenolog( of )nner Time' Consciousness" ) published in 1928, "Formale und transzendentaleLogik"  ("Formal and Transcendental Logic" ) published in 1929, and"!5ditationscart5siennes"  ("Cartesian !editations" ) published in 191$ ;wo more #olumes of

his ")deen" , which he had written during his time at reiburg im *reisgau werepublished after his death, in 1952$

?n his later wor%, usserl mo#ed further towards a %ind of ?dealism, a position which hehad initiall! had tried to o#ercome or avoid, declaring that mental and spiritual realit!possessed their own realit! independent of any physical basis$ t first, he espouseda %ind of ;ranscendental ?dealism, similar to that of Aant and the erman ?dealists,which asserted that our experience of things is about how the! appear tous (representations), and not about those things as the! are in and of themselves, andhis #iew generall! fell short of asserting that an obBecti#e world e&ternal to us does notexist$ owe#er, as he continued to graduall! refine his thought, he ultimatel! arri#ed atan e#en more radical ?dealist position, which essentiall! deniedthat e&ternal obBectse&isted at all outside of our consciousness$

Alfred ;orth Whitehead (A A: ;: Whitehead) (18/1 - 194) wasa $ritishmathematician, logician and philosopher$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 10/55

e is considered one of the founding figures of nal!tic "hilosoph!, and hecontributed significantl! to 2'th entur! Logic, especiall! the new symbolic t!peof Logic he de#eloped in the epochal "rincipia !athematica" , along with co-author *ertrand +ussell$

e also de#eloped a fresh approach to Hetaph!sics, which he originall!called/hilosophy of 0rganism (or 0rganic .ealism) and which has come to be%nown as /rocess /hilosophy$

?n addition he made contributions to algebra, the foundations ofmathematics,physics, "hilosoph! of <cience and "hilosoph! of ducation$ emanaged to combine a staggering complexity of thought with a literary but veryreadable:ualit! of writing$

Life

hitehead was born on 15 ebruar! 18/1 in .amsgate, Aent, ngland$ is father,also named Alfred Whitehead, was an nglican clerg!man0 his mother was 1aria!arah $uckmaster $ e was the youngest of four  siblings, with two older brothers andan older sister$ is famil! was firml! anchored in the hurch of )ngland (his father anduncles were #icars, while his brother would become *ishop of Hadras)$

e was educated at home b! his father until he was 14, because his over-protectiveparents thought that he was too delicate to go to school (in fact his health was :uiterobust)$ rom 185, he attended !herborne <ndependent !chool in >orset, thenconsidered one of the best public schools in the countr!, and where his oldest brotherwas a teacher$ ;he s!llabus was hea#! on the classics, but hitehead excelled in

sports and mathematics in particular, and he was *ead $oy andaptain of Games inhis final !ear$

e won a scholarship to 3rinity ollege8 ambridge in 188', where he studiedmathematics$ e was elected a Fellow in Hathematics in 1884 and then too% upan assistant lectureship to teach applied mathematics$ e had also de#eloped a %eeninterest in physics, and his fellowship dissertation e&amined (ames lerk 1axwells#iews on electricity and magnetism$ e was promoted to a full lectureship at ;rinit!in 1888, and too% up additional teaching duties b! accepting a teaching positionatGirton ollege$

 t the end of 189', he married )velyn Wade, an acti#e and outgoing atholic ?rishwoman brought up in rance$ ;he! were to ha#e a daughter  and two sons (one of thesons died in action during orld ar ?)$ e had become interested in puremathematics and he started wor% on the "Treatise on 0ni1ersal Alge#ra"  in 1891,with #el!ns encouragement, Bust wee%s after his marriage (the wor% would ta%e himse#en !ears to complete, and was finall! published in 1898)$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 11/55

 lthough his father was an nglican #icar and he had been brought up as an Anglican,he began to mo#e towards the .oman atholic hurch (perhaps due to his wifesinfluence), although in the end he chose neither and embraced gnosticism around themid-189's (partl! in #iew of the rapid developments in science during that time)$

*ertrand +ussell had entered ambridge in 189' and, as examiner  for the entrancee&aminations, hitehead had immediatel! spotted +ussells brilliance, and too% him onas his student and proteg#$ .ear the end of 19'', after learning about the wor% doneon the foundations of mathematics b! the ?talian mathematician Giuseppe/eano (1858 - 192) at the 19''<nternational ongress of 1athematicians in "aris,hitehead and +ussell began to collaborate$ ;he! wor%ed throughout the 19''s onwhat was to become their groundbrea%ing "rincipia !athematica" $ hiteheade#en abandoned the second #olume of his own work on algebra in order toconcentrate on the collaboration proBect, with +ussell suppl!ing most of thephilosophical e&pertise and hitehead largel! suppl!ing the mathematics$

>uring the ten !ears or so that +ussell and hitehead spent on the G"rincipiaG, draftafter draft was begun and abandoned as+ussell constantl! re-thought his basicpremises$ #entuall!, hitehead insisted on publication of the wor%, e#en if it was not(and might ne#er be) complete, although the! were forced to publish it at their ownexpense as no commercial publishers would touch it$ ;he first #olume of "rincipia!athematica"  was published in 191', the second in 1912, and the third in 191$

?n 19', he had been promoted to the new position of !enior Lecturer  at ambridge,but he resigned his teaching position at ;rinit! ollege in 191', partl! to protestthe unfair dismissal of a colleague but also partl! because of the slim prospects of hise#er attaining a professorship in mathematics there$ e mo#ed to London in the

summer of 191' with no 4ob to go to and, after four !ears without a proper position, hebecame /rofessor of Applied 1athematics at the <mperial ollege of !cience and3echnology in London in 1914$

>uring World War <, +ussell spent a significant spell in prison for his pacifistactivities and, although hitehead #isited him in prison, he did not ta%ehis pacifism seriousl!, and after the war the two seldom interacted, and hiteheadcontributed nothing to the 1925 second edition of "rincipia !athematica" $

 s the "rincipia !athematica"  proBect neared completion, and e&asperatedwith +ussells constant re-thin%ing of his most basic principles, hitehead turned hisattention to physics, the "hilosoph! of <cience and the "hilosoph! of ducation$ earticulated a ri#al doctrine to lbert insteins General 3heory of .elativity (which helater published later as "The rinciple of %elati1it("  in 1922), although his theory ofgravitation is now discredited$ Li%ewise, his "*n6uir( Concerning the rinciples of.atural 7nowledge"  of 1919, while a more lasting wor% and a pioneering attempt tos!nthesiCe the philosophical underpinnings of physics, has little influenced thecourse of modern ph!sics$ is address "The Aims of *ducation"  of 191/ pointedl!

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 12/55

criticiCed the formalistic approach of modern *ritish teachers who, he claimed, did notcare about the culture andself-education of their students$

?n 1924, hitehead (then /) was in#ited b! *enry 0sborn 3aylor  (185/ - 1941) toteach philosoph! at *arvard 'niversity$ "hilosoph! was a subBect

that fascinated hitehead but that he had also not previously studied in an! depthor taught, but he accepted the post and the hiteheads were to spend the rest of their lives in the 'nited !tates$ is "Science and the !odern -orld"  of 1925, based on aseries of lectures gi#en in the 7nited <tates, ser#ed as an introduction to hislater Hetaph!sics$ is most important boo%, "rocess and %ealit("  (1929), too% thistheor! to a le#el of e#en greater generality$ e finall! retired from teaching in 19 atthe age of 4$

hitehead recei#ed many honours throughout his career$ e became a ellow ofthe .oyal !ociety in 19'$ e was appointed president of the Aristotelian!ociety from 1922 to 192$ e was elected to the $ritish Academy in 191, and was

awarded the0rder of 1erit in 1945$ Han! uni#ersities awarded him honorary degrees,including Hanchester, <t$ ndrews, isconsin, ar#ard, =ale and Hontreal$

hitehead died in ambridge8 1assachusetts on ' >ecember 194, aged 8/$ ;herewas no funeral, and his bod! wascremated$ is famil! carried out his instructions thatall of his papers be destroyed after his death, and there was no critical edition of hiswritings until the 198 edition of "rocess and %ealit("  and the morerecent "-hitehead %esearch ro&ect" $

Work *ac% to ;op

hiteheads intellectual life is often di#ided into three main periods$ >uring his earl!period at ambridge (from 1884 to 191') he wor%ed mainl! on mathematics and Logic$is intermediate period in London (from 191' to 1924) dealt largel! with issuesof "hilosoph! of <cience and "hilosoph! of ducation$ is later period at *arvard (from1924 onwards) saw him wor% on moregeneral issues in philosoph!, including thede#elopment of a comprehensi#e metaph!sical s!stem which came to be %nownas/rocess /hilosophy$ D#er the course of his lifetime, hitehead publishedroughl! two do%en books$

;he first period of hiteheads acti#ities, then, was de#otedto mathematics and Logic$ ?t began with "0ni1ersal Alge#ra" , published in 1898 after

se#en !ears of wor%, continued with "!athematical Concepts of the !aterial-orld"  (19'5), and culminated in the monumental "rincipia !athematica"  (191' -191) written in collaboration with *ertrand +ussell$ ;heir wor% was an e&tension ofthe Logicism of the late 19th entur! erman mathematician and logician ottlobrege, which was based on the premise that mathematics itself  is Bustan extension of Logic, and therefore that some or all mathematics is reducibleto Logic$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 13/55

;he new concepts of !ymbolic Logic introduced in the wor% turned the pre#ailingassertion of ?mmanuel Aant (that the valid inferences of Logic followed fromthe structural features of 4udgements) on its head$ ;heir new Logic wasmuch broader in scope than traditional ristotelian Logic, ande#en contained classical Logic within it, albeit as a minor part$ ?t resembled more

amathematical calculus and dealt with the relations of symbols to each other$?n his second period, hitehead was preoccupied with a "hilosoph! of<cience without metaph!sical e&position, and his wor% included "An *n6uir(Concerning the rinciples of .atural 7nowledge"  (1919), "The Concept of.ature"  (192'), "The rinciple of %elati1it("  (1922) and "Science and the !odern-orld"  (1925)$ ;he latter mentioned the idea of a metaph!sical s!nthesis of e&istence,but did not !et attempt it$

;he genesis of hiteheads "rocess "hilosoph! during this third period ma! beattributed to the shoc%ing collapse of ;ewtonian physics in the aftermath of Albert

)insteins wor%$ is speculati#e metaph!sical #iews started to emerge with his192' "The Concept of .ature"  and e&panded in his 1925 "Science and the !odern-orld" $ is 192 Gifford Lectures at the'niversity of )dinburgh were published in1929 as "rocess and %ealit(" , the boo% that founded "rocess "hilosoph! as a maBorcontribution to estern Hetaph!sics$ ;he main tenets were summari%ed in his last andmost accessible wor%, "The Ad1entures of )deas"  (19)$

hitehead firml! belie#ed that the sharp division between nature and mind,established b! >escartes, had Gpoisoned all subse:uent philosoph!G, and held that inrealit! Gwe cannot determine with what molecules the brain begins and the rest of thebod! endsG$ e deemed human experience to be Gan act of self-origination including

the whole of nature, limited to the perspecti#e of a focal region, located within thebody, but not necessarily persisting in an! fi&ed coordination within a definitepart ofthe brainG$ 7pon this concept of human e&perience, hitehead founded his newmetaph!sical @philosophy of the organism@, his cosmology, his defenseof speculative reason, his ideas on the process of nature and his rational approachto God$

?n his /hilosophy of 0rganism or 0rganic .ealism, now usuall! %nown as /rocess/hilosophy, he posited sub4ective formsto complement "latos eternalob4ects (or Forms)$ ;he theor! identified metaph!sical realit!with change and dynamism, and held that change in not illusory orpurel! accidental to the substance, but rather the #er! cornerstone of realit! or *eing$is #iew of od, as the source of the uni#erse, was thereforeas growing and changing, Bust as the entire uni#erse is in constant flow and change(essentiall! a %ind of ;heism, although his od differs essentially from the re#ealedod of Abrahamic religion)$ Later process philosophers, including harles*artshorne (189 - 2'''), (ohn $: obb (r: (1925 - ) and 5avid .ay Griffin (199 - ),de#eloped the theor! further into a full-blown /rocess 3heology$hiteheads re4ection of mind-bod! >ualismwas similar to elements in $uddhism,

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 14/55

although man! hristians and (ews ha#e found "rocess ;heolog! a fruitful wa! ofunderstanding od and the uni#erse$

hitehead belie#ed that Gthere are no whole truths0 all truths are half-truthsG$ ispolitical #iews sometimes appear to be #er! close to Libertarianism, although he ne#er

used the label, and man! hitehead scholars ha#e read his wor% as pro#iding aphilosophical foundation for the <ocial Liberalism of the ;ew Liberal of the first half ofthe 2'th entur!$

$ertrand Arthur William .ussell (Erd )arl .ussell) (A !ir $ertrand .ussell)(182 - 19') was a $ritish philosopher, logician, mathematician and historian$

e is generall! credited with being one of the founders of nal!tic "hilosoph!,and almost all the #arious nal!tic mo#ements throughout the 2'th entur!

(particularl! Logicism, Logical "ositi#ism and Drdinar! Language "hilosoph!) owesomething to +ussell$ is maBor wor%s, such as his essa! "$n Denoting"  and thehuge "rincipia !athematica"  (co-author with lfred .orth hitehead), ha#e had aconsiderable influence on mathematics (especiall! set theory), linguistics and allareas of philosoph!$

e was a prominent atheist, pacifist and anti-war activist, and championed freetrade between nations and anti-imperialism$ e was a prolific writer  on man!subBects (from his adolescent !ears, he wrote about E8777 words a day, with relati#el!few corrections), and was a great populari%er  of philosoph!$

Life+ussell was born on 18 Ha! 182 at the +ussell famil! seat at G+a#enscroftG in the#illage of 3rellech in Honmouthshire, southeast Wales, into an aristocratic famil!$ ;he+ussell famil! had been prominent in *ritain for se#eral centuries, since ;udor times,and had established themsel#es as one of *ritains leading Whig (Liberal) families$ isfather was (ohn .ussell8 9iscount Amberley, (son of (ohn .ussell8 ?st )arl.ussell, who had twice ser#ed as *ritish "rime Hinister in the 184's and 18/'s), aconfirmed theist and a rather scandalous (for the time) freethin%er in matters of birthcontrol and open marriage$ is mother was Katherine Louisa, the daughter ofthe 6nd $aron !tanley of Alderley, who carried on an open affair  with their childrens

tutor$ e had two siblings, Frank (nearl! se#en !ears older) and .achel (four !earsolder)$ ohn <tuart Hill, the great 7tilitarianphilosopher, was +ussells godfather  and,although Hill died the !ear after his birth, +ussell was influenced b! his wor%$

?n 184, when +ussell was Bust two !ears old, his mother died of diphtheria, followedshortl! b! his sister .achel and, less than two !ears later, his father also died ofbronchitis following a long period of depression$ *ertrand and his brother ran% wereplaced in the care of their staunchly 9ictorian grandparents, who li#ed at /embroke

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 15/55

Lodge in +ichmond "ar% near London$ ust two more !ears later, his grandfather alsodied, and the ountess .ussell was therefore the dominant famil! figure for the rest of +ussells childhood and !outh$ lthough she was from a conser#ati#e !cottish/resbyterian family (and successfull! o#erturned a pro#ision in +ussells fathers willthat the children be raised as gnostics), she held progressive views in other areas,

and her influence on +ussells outloo% on social 4ustice and standing up forprinciple remained with him throughout his life$

His brother Frank reacted to the atmosphere of frequent prayer, emotional repression and

formality with open rebellion, but the young Bertrand learned to hide his feelings. Russell's

adolescence was, however, very lonely and he often contemplated suicide he once remarkedthat only the wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide!. He was educated at home

 by a series of tutors, and he spent countless hours in his grandfather's library. His brother

Frank introduced him as a boy to the work of the "reek mathematician Euclid, whichtransformed Russell's life.

?n 189', +ussell won a scholarship to read for the Hathematics ;ripos at 3rinityollege8 ambridge, where he became ac:uainted with the !ounger  $ $ Hoore andcame under the influence of lfred .orth hitehead, who recommended him totheambridge Apostles (ambridges elite intellectual secret societ!)$ e:uic%l! distinguished himself in mathematics and philosoph!, graduating with a $:A: inmathematics in 189 and adding a fellowship in philosophy in 1895$ e fell in lo#ewith the puritanical, high-minded merican Jua%er Alys /earsall!mith and married her (against his grandmothers wishes) towards the end of 1894$

is first published wor% was a political stud!, "German Social Democrac(" , in 189/and he was soon in#ol#ed with #arious groups of social reformers and left-

wing Fabian campaigners$ is first mathematical boo%, "An *ssa( on theFoundations of Geometr(" , followed close behind in 189$ ?n 19', he wrote hisimportant "The rinciples of !athematics"  and, in 19'5, the essa! "$nDenoting"  (considered one of the most significant and influential philosophicalessa!s of the 2'th entur!) was published in the philosophical Bournal "!ind" $ ebecame a fellow of the .oyal !ociety in 19'8$

<oon after the beginning of the new centur!, though, +ussell and hitehead beganwor%ing on their groundbrea%ing masterwor%, the "rincipia !athematica" , an attemptto deri#e all mathematical truths from a well-defined set of axioms and inferencerules in s!mbolic logic$ ?t became their abiding passion, almost to the e&clusion of allelse, and +ussell and l!s e#en mo#ed in with the hiteheads in order to e&pedite thewor% (although +ussells own marriage suffered as he became infatuatedwithhiteheads !oung wife, #el!n)$ ;he first of three #olumes of the "rincipia!athematica"  was published in 191', with the second and third #olumes following in1912 and 191, and, despite some understandable bewilderment o#er the dense andcomple& tract, +ussell soon became world famous in his field$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 16/55

+ussells marriage to l!s remained something of a hollow shell, howe#er, until the!finall! divorced in 1921, after a length! period of separation$ ;hroughout this period,+ussell had passionate, and often simultaneous, affairs with a number of high societ!women, including Lady 0ttoline 1orrell and the actress Lady onstance 1alleson$

?n 1911, +ussell became ac:uainted with the !oung ustrian engineeringstudent Ludwig ittgenstein, whom he #iewed as agenius and as a successor  whowould continue his wor% on Logic$ e de#oted man! hours to dealing with ittgensteins#ariousphobias and his fre:uent bouts of despair , but +ussell continued tobe fascinated b! him and encouraged his academic de#elopment, e#en as it began todi#erge more and more from his own #iews, including the later publicationof ittgensteins masterwor% "Tractatus Logico'hilosophicus"  in 1922$

>uring World War <, +ussell engaged in pacifist activities, which resulted in hisdismissal from 3rinity ollege following a con#iction in 191/ and, in 1918, si& monthsimprisonment in $rixton prison$ ?n 192', +ussell tra#elled to .ussia as part of an

official delegation sent b! the *ritish go#ernment to in#estigate the effects ofthe .ussian .evolution, during which he met9ladimir <lyich Lenin (18' - 1924),although his e&periences destroyed his pre#ious tentative support for the +e#olution$e subse:uentl! lectured for a !ear in $ei4ing8 hina, accompanied b! his lo#er 5ora$lack, at one point becoming gra#el! ill withpneumonia (eliciting incorrect reports ofhis death in the apanese press)$

Dn the couples return to )ngland in 1921, >ora was si& months pregnant, and +ussellarranged a hasty divorce from l!s,marrying 5ora si& da!s after the di#orce wasfinalised$ ;he! had two children, (ohn onrad .ussell (born 1921) andKatharine(ane .ussell (born 192)$ +ussell supported himself during this time b!

writing popular books e&plaining matters of physics, thics and education to thela!man$ e also founded (together with >ora) the e&perimental $eacon *ill !chool in192, and after he left the school in 192, >ora continued it until 194$

+ussell separated from, and finall! divorced, >ora in 192 (after she had had twochildren with an merican Bournalist, Griffin $arry)$ e married his third wife, anD&ford undergraduate (who had also been his childrens go#erness since the summer of 19') named /atricia "@/eter@& !pence$ ;he! had a son, onrad !ebastian .obert.ussell, who later became a prominent historian and one of the leading figures inthe Liberal 5emocrat part!$

 fter the World War <<, +ussell mo#ed to the 'nited !tates, teaching at the 'niversityof hicago and then the 'niversity of alifornia8 Los Angeles$ e was appointedprofessor at the ity ollege of ;ew ork in 194' but the appointment was annulledb! a court Budgment after a public outcry o#er his opinions and morals$ e Boinedthe $arnes Foundation in "hiladelphia, lecturing to a #aried audience on the histor! ofphilosoph!$ ;hese lectures would form the basis of his boo%, "A ,istor( of -esternhilosoph("  (1945), a great commercial success which pro#ided him with a steadyincome for the remainder of his life$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 17/55

e returned to $ritain in 1944 and reBoined the facult! of 3rinity ollege$ e wasnow world famous, e#en outside of academic circles, and fre:uentl! either the subBector author of maga%ine and newspaper  articles, as well as a regular participant in man!** radio broadcasts$ ?n 1949, he was awarded the 0rder of 1erit and, in 195',the ;obel /ri%e for Literature (at least partl! on the merit of his "A ,istor( of

-estern hilosoph(" )$ ?n 1952, +ussell divorced his third wife, and soon after thedi#orce married his fourth wife, )dith Finch, whom he had %nown since 1925$dith remained with him until his death, and b! all accounts their marriage wasa happy, close and lo#ing one$

+ussell spent the 195's and 19/'s engaged in #arious political causes (primaril!related to nuclear disarmament, opposition to the 9ietnam War  and <sraeliaggression in the Hiddle ast), in compan! with se#eral other prominent intellectualsof the time, and became something of a hero among man! of the !outhful members ofthe ;ew Left$ e published his three-#olumeautobiography in 19/, 19/8 and 19/9,and, although frail, he remained lucid and clear thinking up to the da! of his death$

+ussell died of influenCa on 2 ebruar! 19', aged 9, after suddenl! falling ill whilereading at his home in /enrhyndeudraeth, Herionethshire, ales$ ewas cremated at olw!n *a! and, in accordance with his wishes, there was noreligious ceremony$ is ashes were scattered o#er the elsh mountains later that!ear$

Work *ac% to ;op

 t the beginning of the 2'th entur!, +ussell along with $ $ Hoore and lfred .orthhitehead, was largel! responsible for the *ritish @revolt@ against the

dominant ?dealism of $ $ $ egel$ ;he! stro#e to eliminate what the! sawas meaningless andincoherent assertions in philosoph! andsought clarity and precision in argument b! the use of exact language and b!brea%ing down philosophical propositions into their simplest grammaticalcomponents$ +ussell, in particular, saw formal Logicand science as the principal toolsof the philosopher, and he wanted to end what he saw as the excesses of Hetaph!sics,adopting illiam of Dc%hams principle against multipl!ing unnecessar! entities(0ccams .a%or ) as a central part of the method of anal!sis$

+ussell was particularly critical of the doctrine of internal relations (the ideathat everything has some relation, howe#er distant, to everything else, so that in order 

to %now an! particular thing, we must %now all of its relations), a doctrine he ascribedto the bsolute ?dealism of $ $ $ egel and the "ragmatism of $ <$ "eirce$ +ussellargued that this would ma%e space, time, science and the concept of number not fullyintelligible$

+ussell had great influence on modern mathematical Logic$ is first mathematicalboo%, "An *ssa( on the Foundations of Geometr("  (189), was hea#il! influencedb! ?mmanuel Aant, but he soon re4ected it completel! when he realiCed that it would

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 18/55

ha#e made Albert )insteins schema of space-time (which he understood to besuperior to his own s!stem) impossible$

 s a !oung man, he became #er! interested in the definition of number  (stud!ing thewor% of George $oole, Georg antor and Augustus 5e 1organ), and

followed ottlob rege in ta%ing a logicist approach in which Logic was in turn basedupon mathematical set theory$ ?n fact, +ussell pursued a parallel course to rege tosome e&tent, and spent se#eral !ears wor%ing on ideas that rege had, unbe%nown to+ussell, alread! addressed$ ?t was onl! later that +ussell became responsible forbringing the largel! un%nown rege to the attention of the nglish-spea%ing world$

?t was with his 19' wor%, "The rinciples of !athematics" , though, that +ussellfinall! superceded reges wor%$ e identified what has come to be %nown as .ussells/aradox to show that reges naive set theory led to a contradiction$ ;he parado& canbe stated as the set of things, x , that are such that x  is not a member  of x , and issometimes e&plained b! the simplistic (but more easil! understood) e&ample, G?f a

barber sha#es all and onl! those men in the #illage who do not sha#e themsel#es, doeshe shave himselfG$ hen he found out about thisbrea%through, rege completel! abandoned his Logicism$

+ussell howe#er, continued to defend Logicism (the #iew that mathematics is in someimportant sense reducible to Logic) and, along with his former teacher, lfred .orthhitehead, wrote the monumental three-#olume "rincipia !athematica"  (the first#olume, published in 191', is largel! ascribed to +ussell)$ >uring the ten !ears or sothat +ussell and hitehead spent on the G"rincipiaG, draft after draft was begun andabandoned as +ussell constantl! re-thought his basic premises$#entuall!,hitehead insisted on publication of the wor%, e#en if it was not (and might

ne#er be) complete, although the! were forced to publish it at their own expense as nocommercial publishers would touch it$ "erhaps more than an! other single wor%, itestablished the specialt! of mathematical or s!mbolic logic, and it established +ussellsname in the international mathematical and philosophical communit!$ ?nfluential as itwas, though, the wor% fell pre! to the 191 <ncompleteness 3heorems of KurtG,del (19'/ - 198) which pointed out the inherent limitations of all but the mosttri#ial formal systems for arithmetic of mathematical interest$

<o, it was onl! with the effecti#e abandonment of the rincipia proBect, b! which time+ussell was nearl! 4', that he turned awa! from Logic and towards other aspects ofphilosophy, where he was to pro#e himself almost as influential$

"erhaps more than an!one before him, +ussell made language (or, more specificall!,how we use language), a central part of philosoph!$ "hilosophers such as Ludwigittgenstein and the practitioners of Drdinar! Language "hilosoph! were to a largee&tent amplifying or responding to +ussells earlier ideas (often using man! ofthe techni2ues that +ussell himself originall! de#eloped)$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 19/55

is most significant contribution to "hilosoph! of Language is his theory ofdescriptions, which he presented in his seminal essa!, "$n Denoting"  (19'5)$ ;hetheor! is often illustrated using the phrase Gthe present Aing of ranceG (when rancehas no %ing), and +ussells solution was basicall! to anal!Ce not the term alone butthe entire proposition that contained a definite description, and then allow the

definite descriptions to be broken apart and treated separately from the predicationthat is the ob#ious content of the entire proposition$

+ussells most systematic treatment of philosophical anal!sis was what hecalled Logical Atomism, de#eloped in a set of lectures in 1918$ e set forth hisconcept of an ideal8 isomorphic language that would mirror the world, whereb! our%nowledge could be reduced to terms of atomic propositions and their truth-functional compounds$ e belie#ed that the world consists of a pluralit! of logicallyindependent facts, and that our %nowledge depends on the data of our directexperience of them$ ;hus, e#er! meaningful proposition must consist of terms referringdirectl! to ob4ects with which we are ac2uainted (or the! must be defined b! other

terms referring to obBects with which we are ac:uainted), a %ind of radical  mpiricism$?n time, he came todoubt the #alue of this theor!, and was particularl! troubled b! there:uired assumption of isomorphism (a one-to-one relationbetween two sets, whichpreser#es the relations e&isting between elements in its domain)$

?n pistemolog!, he distinguished between two ways in which we can be familiar withobBects, @knowledge by ac2uaintance@(our own sense data, momentar! perceptionsof colours, sounds, etc) and @knowledge by description@ (e#er!thing else, includingthe ph!sical obBects themsel#es, which can onl! be inferred or reasoned to and not%nown directl!)$ ?n his later philosoph!, howe#er, +ussell subscribed to a %ind of neutralmonism (similar to that held b! illiam ames and first formulated b! *aruch <pinoCa)

which maintained that the distinctions between the material and mental worlds werereall! arbitrary, and that both could be reduced to neutral properties$

+ussell remained throughout his life, though, an out-and-out empiricist, in the traditionof Loc%e and ume, and he alwa!s maintained that the scientific method - %nowledgederi#ed from empirical research #erified through repeated testing - was theappropriate method of anal!sis (<cientism), although he belie#ed that science (andphilosoph!, for that matter) could onl! reachtentative and piecemeal answers, and thatattempts to find organic unities were largel! futile$ owe#er, the #er! fact that he madescience a central part of his method was instrumental in ma%ing the "hilosoph! of<cience a full-blooded separate branch of philosoph!, and he greatl! influenced boththe #erificationists in the Logical "ositi#ism mo#ement as well as thefalsificationists$

 lthough +ussell wrote on thics, being greatl! influenced b! the thical .on-.aturalism of $ $ Hoores "rincipia *thica" , he did not belie#e that thics wasreall! a bona fide part of philosoph!$ ?n time, howe#er, he abandoned an! beliefin ob4ective moral values and came to prefer a #iew closer to the thical<ubBecti#ism of >a#id ume$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 20/55

or most of his life +ussell maintained religion (as well as other systematicideologies such as ommunism) to be little more than superstition, and remained ahigh profile theist (although he did accept the ontological argument for the e&istenceof od for a time during his undergraduate !ears)$ e was careful, howe#er, todistinguish between his theism as regards certain t!pes of god concepts, and

his gnosticism regarding some other t!pes of superhuman intelligence$ e belie#edthat, despite an! positi#e effects it might ha#e, religion was largel! harmful to people,ser#ing to impede knowledge, foster fear  anddependency, and cause much ofthe war , oppression and misery that ha#e beset the world$

+usesell had a good ear for a well-turned aphorism and among his man! 2uotable2uotes areF

• ? would ne#er die for m! beliefs because ? might be wrong$

• o#ernment can easil! e&ist without laws, but law cannot e&ist without

go#ernment$

• ? shouldnt wish people dogmaticall! to belie#e an! philosoph!, not e#en mine$

• ?t has been said that man is a rational animal$ ll m! life ? ha#e been searchingfor e#idence which could support this$

• Han! people would sooner die than thin%0 in fact, the! do so$

• "atriotism is the willingness to %ill and be %illed for tri#ial reasons$

• ;he greatest challenge to an! thin%er is stating the problem in a wa! that willallow a solution$

• ;here is much pleasure to be gained from useless %nowledge$

• hoe#er wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened b!absurdities$

• ar does not determine who is right - onl! who is left$

• ?t is undesirable to belie#e a proposition when there is no ground whatsoe#er forsupposing it is true$

• ;he point of philosoph! is to start with something so simple as not to seem worthstating, and to end with something so parado&ical that no one will belie#e it$

•   stupid mans report of what a cle#er man sa!s can ne#er be accurate, becausehe unconsciousl! translates what he hears into something he can understand$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 21/55

George )dward 1oore (usuall! %nown as G: ): 1oore) (18 - 1958) was a 67thentury )nglish philosopher$ e was, along with ottlob rege, *ertrand+ussell and Ludwig ittgenstein, one of the founders of nal!tic "hilosoph! (one of

the two main traditions in 2'th entur! philosoph!, the other being ontinental"hilosoph!)$

e is perhaps best %nown toda! for his defence of the ethical doctrine of thical .on-.aturalism, his emphasis on common sense in Hetaph!sics (as opposed tothe bsolute ?dealism that dominated *ritish philosophical method at the time),and 1oores /aradox$

or a time in the 192's and 19's, he was the pre-eminent $ritish philospher ,wor%ing in the most important centre of philosoph! in the world at thattime, ambridge 'niversity$ lthough largel! un%nown toda! outside of academic

philosophy, he was ne#ertheless aninfluential thinker , %nown for his clear,circumspect writing style, and for his methodicaland patient approach tophilosophical problems$

Life

Hoore was born on 4 .o#ember 18, one of se#en children of 5aniel and *enrietta1oore, and grew up in the 7pper .orwood district of !outh London$ is earlyeducation came at the hands of his parents, his father teaching him reading, writing,and music (he was a more-than-competent pianist and composer), and his motherteaching him rench$ t the age of eight he was enrolled at 5ulwich ollege, where he

studied mainl! ree% and Latin, but also rench, erman and mathematics$

?n 1892, he went to 3rintity ollege ambridge where he initiall! studied lassics$arl! in his time at ambridge he becameclose friends with some ofthe writers and intellectuals who would go on to form the $loomsbury Group,including Lytton !trachey, Leonard Woolf  and 1aynard Keynes$ e soon madethe ac2uaintance of *ertrand +ussell, who was two !ears ahead of him, and (: 1: ):1c3aggart (18// - 1925), who was then a charismatic !oung "hilosoph! ellow$ efollowed them into the stud! of "hilosoph!, and he graduated in lassics and"hilosoph! in 189/$ ?n 1898, he earned a @/ri%e@ Fellowshipwhich enabled himto continue to stud! philosoph! at ;rinit! along with +ussell and Hc;aggart$

*eginning around 189, Hoore began to participate in #arious philosophical societies(such as the Aristotelian !ociety and the1oral !ciences lub) and to publish hisearl! wor% (man! of his best %nown and most influential wor%s date from this earl!period)$ ?t was also during this time that Hoore instigated the momentous break fromthe then dominant philosoph! of bsolute ?dealism that would pro#e to be the firststep toward the rise of nal!tic "hilosoph!$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 22/55

Hoores ellowship ended in 19'4, and he spent a few !ears awa! from ambridge,li#ing in )dinburgh and .ichmond, <urre!, and wor%ing independentl! on #ariousphilosophical proBects$ owe#er, he returned to ambridge in 1911 to ta%e upalectureship position in Horal <cience, and he li#ed there (other than an e&tended #isitto the 'nited !tates from 194' to 1944 as a visiting professor ) for the rest of his life$

?n 191/, at the age of 4, he married 5orothy )ly, who had been his student, and thecouple had two sons, ;icholas (born in 1918) and 3imothy (born in 1922)$ e earneda Litt:5: in 191, and was elected a fellow of the $ritish Academy in 1918$

?n 1921, he became the editor of "!ind" , the leading *ritish philosoph! Bournal, and in1925, he became /rofessor  of Hental "hilosoph! and Logic at ambridge (which soonbecame the most important centre of philosoph! in the world), confirming his positionas one of the most highly-respected *ritish philosophers of the time$ e retired as"rofessor in 199 (to be succeeded b! ittgenstein) and he retired as editorof "!ind"  in 194, mar%ing the end of his pre-eminence (and the end of the golden

ageof ambridge philosoph!)$ ?n 1951, he was awarded the $ritish 0rder of 1erit$Hoore died in ambridge on 24 Dctober 1958, and he was buried in <t$ iles3church!ard$

Work *ac% to ;op

Hoores "rincipia *thica" , first published in 19', has become one of the standardtexts of modern thics$ ?t was one of themain inspirations for themo#ement against thical .aturalism (and in fa#our of thical .on-.aturalism) and ispartl! responsible for the 2'th entur! concern with Heta-thics (the attempt to define

the essential meaning and nature of ethical problems)$

?n the "rincipia *thica" , Hoore argued that most other philosophers wor%ingin thics made a mista%e he called the@;aturalistic Fallacy@ when the! triedto prove an ethical claim b! appealing to a definition of the term GgoodG in terms of oneor more natural properties (e$g$ GpleasantG, Gmore e#ol#edG, GdesiredG, etc)$ ccordingto Hoore, the term GgoodG (in the sense of intrinsic value) is in fact indefinable,because it names a simple8 non-natural property, and cannot be anal!Ced in termsof any other  propert!$ is argument (often called the 0pen uestion Argument) is thatthe :uestion Ghat is goodKG is an openone, because GgoodG cannot be called GblueG orGroughG or GsmoothG or Gsmell!GF it lacks natural properties$ ;hus, when aedonist, for

e&ample, claims Gn!thing that is pleasant is also goodG, it is alwa!s possibleto counter  with G;hat thing is pleasant, but is it goodKG$

Hoore further argued that, once arguments based on the naturalistic fallac! hadbeen discarded, :uestions of intrinsic goodness could onl! be settled b! appeal to whathe called @moral intuitions@ (self-evident propositions which recommend themsel#esto moral reflection, but which are not susceptible to either direct proof or disproof ), a#iew often described as )thical <ntuitionism$ owe#er, as a onse:uentialist, Hoore

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 23/55

distinguished his #iew from those of >eontological ?ntuitionists, who held that GintuitionsGcould determine :uestions about what actions are right or re:uired b! dut!$ e arguedthat GdutiesG and moral rules could be determined b! in#estigating the effects ofparticular actions or %inds of actions, and so were matters for empiricalinvestigation rather than direct ob4ects of intuition$

?n the "rincipia *thica" , and to a greater e&tent in his later boo%, the "*thics"  of1912, Hoore promoted a #iew that has come to be called <deal 'tilitarianism$ eargued that there is no important difference in meaning between concepts li%e dut!MrightM and #irtueM on the one hand, and e&pedientM or usefulM on the other$ owe#er,whereas classic 7tilitarianism is hedonistic(in that it defines GgoodG in terms ofGpleasureG), Hoore3s 7tilitarianism is pluralistic, allowing that man! different kinds ofob4ects can ha#e intrinsic #alue (e$g$ the pleasures of personalrelationships, aesthetic en4oyment, etc)$ ;hus, actions should be ordered not to thegreatest happiness or pleasure, but to those states of affairs possessing the highestdegree of good, and directed in this wa! toward some ideal state$

Dne of the most important parts of Hoores philosophical de#elopment was his brea%from ?dealism, particularl! the bsolute ?dealism that dominated *ritish Hetaph!sics atthe time (and which he himself had inherited from earliest philosophical mentor,(: 1: ):1c3aggart), and his defence of what he regarded as a @common sense@ formof +ealism or "luralism$ ?n his 1925 essa! "A Defence of Common Sense" , he arguedagainst ?dealism and <%epticism toward the external world on the grounds that the!could not gi#e reasons to accept their metaph!sical premises that were moreplausible than the reasons we ha#e to accept the common sense claims about our%nowledge of the world$ is 199 essa! "roof of an *+ternal -orld"  ga#e ane&ample of this, claiming that, b! pointing out first one hand and then another, he

could conclude that there are at least twoexternal ob4ects in the world, and thattherefore an e&ternal world exists (an argument which deepl! influenced Ludwigittgenstein)$

Hoore is also remembered for what is now commonl! called @1oores /aradox@, apuCCle which also inspired a great deal of wor% b! ittgenstein$ e drew attention to thepeculiar inconsistency in#ol#ed in a sentence such asF G?t will rain, but ? dont belie#ethat it willG, which seems impossible for an!one to consistently assert, but whichdoes not seem to contain an! actuallogical contradiction$

Ludwig (osef (ohann Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951) was an Austrian philosopher andlogician, and has come to be considered one of the 2'th entur!s most importantphilosophers, if not the most important$

*oth his early and later  wor% (which are entirel! different and incompatible, e#enthough both focus mainl! on the #alid and in#alid uses of language) ha#e beenma4orinfluences in the de#elopment of nal!tic "hilosoph! and "hilosoph! of Language$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 24/55

;he Logical "ositi#ists of the 9ienna ircle in particular were greatl! influenced b!his "Tractatus Logico'hilosophicus"  (although ittgenstein alleged that the!had fundamentally misunderstood much of it)$ ;he ideas in his later "hilosophical)n1estigations"  ushered in the era of Drdinar! Language "hilosoph! and broughtlanguage to the forefront of modern philosoph!$

is significance has been primarily in the areas of Logic, Hetaph!sics,pistemolog!,the "hilosoph! of Hind, the "hilosoph! of Language and the/hilosophy of1athematics$ owe#er, his influence has e&tended beyond what is normall!considered philosoph!, and ma! be found in #arious areas of the socialsciences (including social therap!, ps!cholog!, ps!chotherap! and anthropolog!) andthe arts$

Life

ittgenstein (pronounced VIT-gun-shtine) was born on 2/ pril 1889 in 9ienna,

 ustria, into one of the most prominent and wealthy families in the Austro-*ungarian)mpire$ is father was Karl Wittgenstein, an industrialist from a "rotestant famil!con#erted from udaism, who went on to ma%e a fortune in iron and steel0 his motherwas Leopoldine Kalmus, from a mi&ed ewish-atholic famil!$ e was the youngestof eight children, all of whom were baptiCed as .oman atholic despite the religious#iews of their parents families$

is father was a leading patron of the arts, especiall! music, and the ittgensteinhouse often hosted important musicians such as (ohannes $rahms and Gustav1ahler $ *oth his parents were #er! musical, and all their children were artisticall! andintellectuall! educated$ Ludwigs older brother, /aul Wittgenstein, went on to become a

world-famous concert pianist (e#en after losing his right arm in orld ar ?), andLudwig himself had perfect pitch and pla!ed the clarinet throughout his life$ is famil!were also intensel! self-critical to the point of depression and suicidaltendencies (three of his four brothers committed suicide)$

ittgenstein was educated at home until 19', after which he began three !ears ofschooling at the +ealschule in Lin% (Adolf *itler  was also a student there at the sametime, although it is not %nown whether the two %new each other)$ ittgensteinapparentl! spo%e an unusuall! pure high erman, albeit with a slight stutter , andinsisted on using the formal form of addresse#en with his classmates$ e wore#er! elegant clothes, and was highly sensitive and extremely unsociable$

?n 19'/, he began stud!ing mechanical engineering in $erlin, and in 19'8 he wentto 9ictoria 'niversity8 1anchester  to stud! for his post-graduate degreein engineering and aeronautics$ ?t was during his research in Hanchester that hebecame interested in the foundations of mathematics, particularl! after readingthe "rincipia !athematica"  of lfred .orth hiteheadand *ertrand +ussell andthe "Grundgesetze der Arithmetik"  of ottlob rege$ ?n 1911, he #isited andcorresponded with rege, who ad#ised him to stud! under +ussell in ambridge$ Later

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 25/55

in 1911, ittgenstein arri#ed unannounced at +ussells rooms in3rinity ollege8ambridge and was soon attending his lectures and discussing mathematics andphilosoph! with him at great length$

e made a great impression on both +ussell and $ $ Hoore and, as he started to

wor% on the foundations of Logic and mathematical Logic, +ussell began to seeittgenstein as a possible successor  who would carr! on his wor%$ >uring his time atambridge, ittgensteins other maBor interests were music,the cinema and travelling, often in the compan! of his great friend, 5avid /insent$ ewas in#ited to Boin the ambridge Apostles (the elite ambridge secret societ! towhich +ussell andHoore had both belonged as students)$ ?n 191, he inherited a largefortune when his father died, donating some of it, initiall! anon!mousl!, to Austrianartists and writers$

 lthough he was invigorated b! his stud! at ambridge, ittgenstein came to feel thathe could not get to the heart of his most fundamental :uestions while surrounded

b! other academics, and in 191 he retreated to the relati#e solitude of the remote#illage of !k4olden, .orwa!$ ;his isolation allowed him to de#ote himself entirel! tohis work, and he later saw this period as one of themost passionate and productive times of his life$ e wrote an unpublished boo%entitled "Logik" , a ground-brea%ing wor% in the foundations of Logic, which was theimmediate predecessor and source of much of the later "Logisch'hilosophische

 A#handlung"  ("Tractatus Logico'hilosophicus" )$

;he outbrea% of World War < in 1914 too% him rather b! surprise (li#ing in seclusion ashe was), but he #olunteered for theAustro-*ungarian army, ser#ing on the .ussianfront and in northern <taly$ e won se#eral medals for bravery and, towards the end

of 1918, he was he was captured and held as a prisoner of war  b! the ?talian arm!at assino in central ?tal!$ ?t was in this ?talian prison that he completed his magnumopus, the "Tractatus Logico'hilosophicus" $

hen he heard the news that his friend, >a#id "insent, had been killed in action,ittgenstein became inconsolable andalmost suicidal$ owe#er, with the help of hisambridge friends, *ertrand +ussell and (ohn 1aynard Keynes (188 - 194/),ittgenstein managed to get access to boo%s and to prepare the manuscript ofthe "Tractatus" , and send it bac% to ngland for translation andpublication$ +ussell had recogniCed it as a wor% of supreme philosophical importanceand wrote an introductionfor it (lending the boo% his reputation as one ofthe foremost philosophers in the world), but ittgenstein argued with +ussello#er it,and e#entuall! it was not published until 1821 in erman and 1922 in translation$

 fter the ar, ittgenstein was a profoundl! changed man$ lthough amilitant atheist during his stint at ambridge, he became something of a born-againevangelist of sorts after reading "The Gospel in Brief"  b! Leo 3olstoy (1828 - 191'),which he happened to pic% up during the ar$ ?n 1919, he ga#e awa! his portion of theinherited family fortune to his sisters*elene and *ermine and his brother /aul (he felt

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 26/55

that gi#ing mone! to the poor  could onl! corrupt them further , whereas the rich wouldnot be harmed b! it) and began to follow a new ascetic life$

on#inced that his "Tractatus"  had sol#ed all the problems of philosoph! and that thehad precipitated the end of philosophy, he left philosoph! entirel! and returned to

 ustria to train as a primary school teacher $ e had somewhat unrealisticexpectations of the rural children he taught, and little patience with those who had noaptitude for mathematics$ is severe disciplinary methods (often in#ol#ing corporalpunishment, not unusual at the time) and intense and e&acting teachingmethods e#entuall! culminated in 192/ in the collapse of an ele#en !ear old bo!whom ittgenstein had struc% on the head$ lthough he was cleared of misconduct,he resigned his position and returned to 9ienna, feeling that he had failed as a schoolteacher$

e wor%ed for a time as a gardeners assistant in a monaster! near @ienna, but wasad#ised that he would not find what he sought in monastic life$ is spirits were

restored to some e&tent b! his wor% on the architectural designs of a modernist housefor his sister 1argaret$ ;owards the end of that proBect, he was contacted b! 1orit%!chlick (1882 - 19/), a leading figure in the newl!-formed 9ienna ircle andthe Logical "ositi#ism mo#ement, who was tremendousl! interested inittgensteins"Tractatus" $ lthough he found the meetings he attendede&tremel! frustrating, (belie#ing that <chlic% and his colleagues hadfundamentall! misunderstood his wor%), the intellectual stimulus did ha#e the effect ofdrawing him bac% into philosoph!, and o#er the course of his con#ersations withthe 9ienna ircle, and especiall! with the !oung Frank /: .amsey (19' - 19'),ittgenstein began to thin% that there might be some @grave mistakes@ in his wor%$

?n 1929, urged b! +amse! and others, he decided to return to ambridge (usingthe "Tractatus"  as his doctoral thesis), and was rather disconcerted to find that hewas now considered a philosophical genius and one of the most famed philosophersin the world$ e was dul! appointed as a lecturer  and was made a Fellow of ;rinit!ollege$ ?n 191, he broke off his engagement with 1arguerite .espinger  (a !oung<wiss woman he had met as a friend of the famil!), and most of his romanticattachments were to young men$ ?n 194, he concei#ed the idea of emigrating tothe !oviet 'nion with his long-time friendFrancis !kinner  (1912 - 1941)$ lthough the!were offered teaching positions there in 195, the! preferred to ta%e up manualwork, but returned disillusioned after onl! three wee%s$

rom 19/ to 19, ittgenstein li#ed again in ;orway, where he wor%ed on his on-going "hilosophische 0ntersuchungen" ("hilosophical )n1estigations" ), in whichhe de#eloped a completely new philosophy, :uite different from his earlier wor%, e#enthough nothing was actuall! published until after his death in 1951$ ?n 198, hetra#elled to <reland to #isit his friend1aurice 5rury who was training as a doctor, andalso at the in#itation of the ?rish "rime Hinister )amon de 9alera, who was himself anamateur mathematician$ hile he was in ?reland, howe#er, erman! anne&ed ustria inthe Anschluss, and ittgenstein became technicall! a citi%en of the enlarged

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 27/55

Germany and a (ew under its racial laws$ ;he famil! tried to ha#ethemsel#es reclassified as r!anNewish crossbreeds, using their considerable fortuneas a bargaining tool, which the! e#entuall! achie#ed in 199$ *! that time, howe#er,ittgenstein had been appointed to the chair in /hilosophy at ambridge (after $ $Hoores resignation in 199), and had ac:uired $ritish citi%enship soon afterwards$

>uring World War <<, he left ambridge and volunteered as a hospital porter in Guys*ospital in London, and as a laborator! assistant in the .oyal 9ictoria<nfirmary in ;ewcastle (arranged b! his friend (ohn .yle, brother of thephilosopher ilbert +!le)$ fter the ar, he returned to teach at ambridge, althoughhe had ne#er reall! li%ed the intellectual atmosphere there (he often encouraged hisstudents to find wor% outside of academic philosoph!, and found teaching anincreasing burden)$

ittgenstein resigned his position at ambridge in 194 to concentrate on his writing,spending two !ears li#ing at a guesthouse in )ast Wicklow, ?reland, and then in the

rural isolation of the west coast of <reland$ ?n 1949, he was diagnosed asha#ingprostate cancer , b! which time he had written most of the material that would bepublished after his death as "hilosophische 0ntersuchungen"  ("hilosophical)n1estigations" ), arguabl! his most important wor% (the "Tractatus Logico' hilosophicus" notwithstanding) and perhaps the most influential of all post-arwor%s of philosoph!$

e spent the last two !ears of his life wor%ing in 9ienna, the 'nited!tates, 0xford and ambridge and, up until two da!s before his death, he waswor%ing on new material in collaboration with his former student ;orman1alcolm (1911 - 199'), which was published posthumousl! as "$n Certaint(" $

ittgenstein died from prostate cancer at the home of his ambridge doctor, )dward9aughan $evan, on 29 pril 1951$ islast words wereF G;ell them ?#e had a wonderfullifeG$ <ome thirt! thousand pages of incomplete manuscripts were found after hisdeath$

Work *ac% to ;op

"erhaps more than an! other maBor philosopher, ittgensteins wor% falls into two verydistinct peiodsF an early period, culminating in the publication of his ground-brea%ing "Logisch'hilosophische A#handlung"  ("Tractatus Logico' 

hilosophicus" ) in 19210 and a later period of largel! unrelated (and indeedincompatible) wor%, which was written o#er man! !ears but not published until two !earsafter his death as "hilosophische 0ntersuchungen"  ("hilosophical)n1estigations" )$

is early work on the foundations of Logic and his philosoph! in general were deepl!influenced b! rthur <chopenhauer  and?mmanuel Aant, as well as b! the newsystems of Logic put forward b! *ertrand +ussell and ottlob rege$ hen his wor%

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 28/55

began ta%e on an ethical and religious significance during orld ar ?, his "TractatusLogico'hilosophicus"  graduall! too% shape, although it was still #er! much in linewith the general Logicist approach of the time as e&emplifiedb! +ussell andhiteheads "rincipia !athematica" $ >ue to #ariouspersonal difficulties and arguments, the "Tractatus"  was not published until 1921,

and it remained the only philosophical boo% ittgenstein published during his lifetime$or a time, he belie#ed that the wor% offered a definitive solution to all the problems of philosoph!$

;he "Tractatus"  attempted to define the limits of Logic in understanding the world$ ?tclaimed that the world consists of independent atomic facts (e&isting states of affairs)out of which larger facts are built, an idea that later became %nown asLogicalAtomism and was further de#eloped b! *ertrand +ussell$ Language too consists ofatomic (and then larger-scale)propositions that correspond to the facts of the worldb! sharing the same @logical form@$

;he %e! to understanding the "Tractatus"  is ittgensteins picture theory of meaning$e drew an analogy between the wa! that pictures represent the world and the wa!that language (and sentences it is made up of) represent realit! and states of affairs,and he asserted that thoughts, as e&pressed in language, @picture@ the facts of theworld$ urthermore, the structure of language is determined by the structure of realit!,and we are able to tal% about realit! not Bust because we ha#e words that stand forthings, but because the words within a sentence ha#e a relationship to eachother  that corresponds to the relationship things ha#e to each other in the world$?ndeed, ittgenstein claimed that, unless language mirrored realit! in this wa!, it wouldbe impossible for sentences to ha#e an! meaning$

?t should be stressed here that ittgenstein was not referring to ordinar! e#er!da!con#ersational language, but to the@elementary sentences@ which undelie ordinar!language, and which can be distilled out of e#er!da! language b! analysis$ e madeclear that the so-called logical constants (GnotG, GandG, GorG and GifG) were not part of thepicturing relationship, but were merel! wa!s of stringing multiple pictures together oroperating on them$ ;hus, ittgenstein claimed that we can anal!Ce our thoughts andsentences to @express@ (in the sense of GshowG, not Gsa!G) their true logical form, butthose we cannot so anal!Ce cannot be meaningfully discussed, and so should note#en be spo%en of$ e belie#ed that the whole of philosophyessentiall! consists of nomore than this form of anal!sis, and that non-factual concepts such as those in thefields of thics,+eligion and esthetics were effecti#el! unsa!able and meaningless$

<ome commentators ha#e pointed out that the sentences of the "Tractatus"  wouldnot 2ualify as meaningful according to itsown rigid criteria, and that ittgensteinsmethod in the boo% does not follow its own demands regarding the onl! strictlycorrect philosophical method$ <ome ha#e gone so far as to argue that the boo% isactuall! deeply ironic in that it demonstrates the ultimate nonsensicality of an!sentence attempting to sa! something metaph!sical$ ither wa!, ha#ing originall!propounded this stance in the "Tractatus" , ittgenstein was to re4ect it in his

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 29/55

later "hilosophical )n1estigations" $ ;he logical positi#ists of the 9ienna ircle, itshould be noted, immediatel! seiCed on /roposition > of the boo%, Gwhat we cannotspea% of, we must pass o#er in silenceG, e#en though ittgenstein himself ga#e it arather different, and much moremystical, interpretation$

*! the time of World War <<, ittgensteins #iews on the foundations of Logic and ofmathematics had changed considerably, and he now denied that therewere any mathematical facts to be disco#ered, and denied that mathematicalstatements could be @true@ in an! real sense$ e argued that mathematical statementssimpl! e&pressed the conventional established meanings of certain s!mbols$ efurther denied that a contradiction should count as a fatal flaw of a mathematicals!stem$ is series of lectures on this and other topics were later documented in theboo%, "-ittgenstein8s Lectures on the Foundations of !athematics" $

e renounced or revised much of his earlier wor%, and de#eloped a completel! newphilosophical method and a newunderstanding of language, culminating in his

second magnum opus, the "hilosophische 0ntersuchungen" ("hilosophical)n1estigations" )$ is earlier search for a perfect language had ended in stalemate,and his claim that Gthe limits of m! language mean the limits of m! worldG began toappear too restricti#e$ e started wor%ing on a new line of thin%ing during his time in.orwa! in 19/, and continued throughout his sta! in rural ?reland towards the end oflife$ ;he boo% waspublished posthumously in 195, although in realit! it is nota systematic treatise li%e his "Tractatus"  but rather a series of more or lessindependent thoughts and lectures$ lthough brilliantl! aphoristic in st!le, it isne#ertheless difficult reading, appearing at times almost as a more or less random

 4umble of thoughts, and indi#idal paragraphs ma! ha#e little or no connection to thosepreceding or succeeding$ ?t too, howe#er, came to be regarded as Bust as influential, and

its #er! different focus from his earlier wor% (largel!on language and psychology rather than than on logic and ob4ective truth) is usuall!referred to as Gthe late WittgensteinG$

?n the "hilosophical )n1estigations" , ittgenstein mo#ed awa! from the pictureanalog! and towards a @tool@ or @use@analog!$ e claimed that words should bethought of as tools and that, in most cases at least, the meaning of a word is Bustits use in the language$ ;hus, competel! contrar! to the picture theor! of meaning,the structure of language determines what we think of as reality$ lso, although apicture can onl! gi#e one representation of realit!, a tool can ha#e many different uses(and so, therefore, can words, particularl! when used in different circumstances or indifferent t!pes of con#ersation)$ e li%ened the #arious different meanings a word couldha#e to family resemblances, which can ha#e common features, criss-crossingsimularities or o#erlapping relationships but ne#ertheless remain distinct and uni:ue$

 lthough apparentl! banal and common-sensical, this idea was :uite a radical one as itmilitated against se#eral long-held assumptions in philosoph!F that words get theirmeanings b! standing for ob4ects, that words get their meaning b! being associatedwith ideas in the mind, and that words represent some underl!ing trait or essence$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 30/55

e also introduced another analog!, that of language as a %ind of game, an acti#it!go#erned b! pre-set rules o#er which we ha#e no control, but which allow a certainlimited amount of latitude and interpretation$ e suggested that language (and itsuses) was essentiall! a multiplicit! of @language-games@ within which the parts oflanguage function and have meaning$ Han!conventional philosophical

problems (e$g$ Ghat is truthKG) therefore become simpl! meaningless wordplay orGbewitchmentsG arising from philosophers misuse of language$ lthough languagewor%s relati#el! well as part of the fabric of life, once it is @forced@ into a metaph!sicalen#ironment (where all the familiar and necessar! landmarks and contextual cluesareabsent), then problems arise$

ittgenstein saw the role of philosoph! as merel! to describe (not to Bustif! or pro#ide afoundation for) these language-games$ e pointed out that philosophicalproblems can be sol#ed using logically perfect language, without the confusing andmudd!ing effects of e#er!da! conte&ts, but cautioned that such language is sterile andcan do no actual useful work$ .either was it possible to step back and appraise a

language-game from a non-linguistic poiuit of #iew, as we are alwa!s opering withinalanguage-game$ Huch of the "hilosophical )n1estigations"  consists of examples ofhow philosophical confusion is generated and how, b! a close examination of theactual wor%ings of everyday language, the first false steps towards philosophicalpuCClement can be avoided$ e urged philosophers to bring words bac% from theirmetaph!sical to their everyday useG, ushering in the era of  Drdinar! Language"hilosoph!$

 long with later philosophers such as $ @$ D$ Juine and 5onald 5avidson in the195's and 19/'s, ittgenstein broadened the principle of semantic olism e#enfurther to arri#e at the position that a sentence (and therefore a word)

has meaning onl! in the conte&t of a whole language (not Bust a larger segment oflanguage)$

Huch controversy has been generated b! the implications of ittgensteins language-games theor! for the possible e&istence of a @private language@ (a language in#entedb! an indi#idual to describe his own feelings and sensations in tems that no-one elsecould understand)$ ;he contro#ers! arises because man! philosophers ha#e assumedthat this must be the basic fundamental use of language, because our %nowledge of,and interactions with, the outside world must start with our inner e&periences$ittgenstein, howe#er, belie#ed that this is not how language wor%s, and that we usewords in con4unction with public criteria, beha#iours and situations, so that wecan never  in fact spea% a pri#ate, or entirel! personal, language$ e points out thattherules which go#ern an! language must ha#e a social aspect and that the meaningsof words depend on the social context within which the! are used (what he calledGforms of lifeG)$

 lthough the earl! ittgenstein had completel! dismissed out of hand all tal%of religion as meaningless nonsense, the later ittgenstein was concerned to GgetinsideG the religious language-game, to loo% at how words were used in a religious

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 31/55

conte&t and to show that the religious language-game was completel! different fromthe scientific language-game$ e formulated his own #ersion of  ideism which arguedthat religion is a self-contained, and primaril! expressive, enterprise, go#erned b! itsowninternal logic or grammarM$ e pointed out that religion is logicall! cut off  fromother aspects of life0 that religious discourse is essentiall! self-referential and does not

allow us to tal% about reality0 that religious beliefs can be understood onl! b!religiousbelievers0 and that religion therefore cannot be critici%ed$

ittgenstein has in recent !ears, become influential in areas :uite outside ofphilosoph!, including literar! criticism, the arts and aethsetics in general, the socialsciences (particuarl! anthroplog!), political theor!, etc$

1artin *eidegger  (1889 - 19/) was a 67th entury German philosopher$ e wasone of the most original and important philosophers of the 2'th entur!, but also one

of themost controversial$ is best %nown boo%, "Being and Time" , althoughnotoriousl!difficult, is generall! considered to be one of the mostimportant philosophical wor%s of the 2'th entur!$

is outspo%en earl! support for the ascist ;a%i regime in erman! has to somee&tent obscured and tainted his significance, but his wor% has e&ercised a deepinfluence on philosoph!, theolog! and the humanities, and was key to the de#elopmentof "henomenolog!, &istentialism, >econstructionism, "ost-Hodernism,and ontinental "hilosoph! in general$

Life

eidegger (pronounced HIE-de-ger ) was born on 2/ <eptember 1889 in 1esskirch inrural southern Germany, to a poor atholic famil!$ e was the son of the sexton of the#illage church, and was raised a .oman atholic$ #en as a child, he was clearl! astrong and charismatic personality, despite his ph!sical frailt!$ ?n 19', he went to thehigh school in Konstan%, where the church supported him b! a scholarship, and thenmo#ed to the (esuit seminary at Freiburg in 19'/$ is earl! introduction to philosoph!came with his reading of "$n the !anifold !eaning of Being according to

 Aristotle" b! the philosopher and ps!chologist Fran% $rentano (188 - 191)$

?n 19'9, after completing high school, he became a (esuit novice, but was discharged

within a month for reasons of health$ rom 19'9 to 1911, he started tostud! theology at the 'niversity of Freiburg, but then bro%e off his training for thepriesthood and switched to stud!ing philosoph!, mathematics, and natural sciences$e completed his doctoral thesis on psychologism in 1914, before Boining the ermanarm! briefl! at the start of World War <, (he was released after two months, again duetohealth reasons)$ hile wor%ing as an unsalaried associate professor  at the7ni#ersit! of reiburg, teaching mostl! courses

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 32/55

in ristotelianism and <cholastic philosoph!, he earned his habilitation with a thesis onthe medie#al philosopher ohn >uns <cotus in 191/$

?n 191/, he came to %now personall! the "henomenologist dmund usserl who had Boined the reiburg facult!, and who too% the promising !oung eidegger under his

wing$ ?n 191, he married )lfriede /etri, an attracti#e economics student and"rotestant with %nown anti-!emitic #iews, who would remain at his side for the rest ofhis life, despite the #er! GopenG nature of the marriage$ ?n 1918, though, he was againcalled up for military duty, and, although he managed to a#oid front-line ser#ice for aslong as possible, he did ser#e as an arm! meteorologist near the western front duringthe last three months of the war$ lfriede bore their first son (,rg in 19190 anotherson, *ermann, was probabl! e&tramarital$

 fter the end of the ar, in 1918, he broke definiti#el! with atholicism, and returnedto reiburg as a (salaried) senior assistant to usserl until 192$ e did notapprove of usserls later de#elopments, howe#er, and soon began to

radicall!reinterpret his "henomenolog!$ ?n 192, he was elected to an extraordinaryprofessorship in "hilosoph! at the 'niversity of 1arburg, although whene#er hecould he made his wa! bac% to his Gspiritual homeG deep in the *lac% orest, and hemaintained a simple rustic cabin there for the rest of his life$ >uring his time at Harburg,he had extramarital affairs with at least two of his students, *annah Arendt (19'/ -195) and )lisabeth $lochmann (1892 - 192), both philosophers in their own right,and both (ewish (rendt was later to achie#e world fame through her commentaries onthe e#ils of ;a%ism)$

?n 192, he published "Sein und 3eit"  ("Being and Time" ), his first publication since191/, which soon became recogniCed as a trul! epoch-making work of 2'th entur!

philosoph!$ ;he boo% made eidegger famous almost o#ernight and was widel! readb! educated men and women throughout erman!$ ?t earned him a fullprofessorship at Harburg and, soon after, on usserls retirement from teaching in1928, the chair of philosoph! at Freiburg 'niversity (which he accepted, in spite ofa counter-offer b! Harburg)$ e remained at reiburg for most of the rest of his life,declining offers from other uni#ersities, including one from the prestigious 'niversity of$erlin$ mong his students at reiburg were *erbert 1arcuse (1898 - 199), )rnst;olte (192 - ) and )mmanuel Levinas (19'/ - 1995)$

ith Adolph *itler s rise to power in 19, eidegger (who had pre#iousl! shown littleinterest in politics) Boined the ;a%i party, and was elected .ector  of the 'niversity ofFreiburg (his inaugural address, the "%ektoratsrede" , has become notorious)$ >uringthis period, he not onl! cooperated with the educational policies of the ;ational!ocialist go#ernment, but also offered it his enthusiastic public support, helpingto legitimi%e the .aCi regime with his own worldwide prestige and influence$ Dne of themost prominent #ictims of his malicious, and often unfounded, denunciations was the.obel "riCe-winning chemist *ermann !taudinger $ eidegger technicall! resigned hisposition at reiburg in 194, and too% a much less o#ertl! political position thereafter,although he remained a member of the academic faculty and he retained his ;a%i

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 33/55

party membership until it was disbanded the end of orld ar ?? (despite some covertcriticism of .aCi ideolog! and e#en a period of time under the surveillance of theestapo)$

>uring the later 19's and 194's (sometimes referred to as @the turn@), his writings

became less systematic and often more obscure, and he de#eloped a preoccupationwith the :uestion of language, a fascination with poetry, a concern with moderntechnology, as well as a new-found respect for the earl! "re-<ocratic ree%philosophers$ e himself alwa!s denied an! GturnG, arguing that it was simpl! a matterof going yet more deeply into the same matters$

 t the end of the ar, eidegger returned to reiburg to face the accusations of therench occup!ing force and the 7ni#ersit!s own dena%ification commission$ e wassummaril! dismissed from his philosoph! chair because of alleged ;a%i sympathies,and forbidden from teaching in erman! from 1945 to 1951 b! the French0ccupation Authority$ >espite his apparent lac% of remorse, the ban hit eidegger

hard, and he spent some time in a sanatorium after a suicide attempt$ hen the banwas lifted in 1951, he became /rofessor emeritus at reiburg and taughtregularly until 1958, and then b! invitation until 19/$ ith the support of someunli%el! allies, such as the Har&ist ean-"aul <artre and other  e&istentialists, and,perhaps most puCCling of all, his ewish e&-lo#er annah rendt, he was almostcompletel! rehabilitated as a maBor philosophical figure during erman!s)ra of.econstruction after the ar, although he never  spo%e out or publicl! apologiCed forhis war-time acti#ities$

>uring the last three decades of his life, he continued to write and publish, althoughthere was little significant change in his underl!ing philosoph!$ e di#ided his time

between his home in Freiburg, his second stud! in 1esskirch, and his isolatedmountain hut at 3odtnauberg on the edge of the *lac% orest, which he consideredthe best environment in which to engage in philosophical thought$

eidegger died on 2/ Ha! 19/, and was buried in the Hess%irch cemeter!$

Work *ac% to ;op

eideggers writings are notoriously difficult and idiosyncratic, indulging ine&tended word play, emplo!ing his own spelling, #ocabular! and s!nta&, andin#enting new words for comple& concepts$ ;his was partl! because he was discussing

#er!specifically defined concepts (which he used in a #er! rigorous and consistentwa!) but it does ma%e reading and understanding his wor% #er! difficult$

"Sein und 3eit"  ("Being and Time" ), published in 192, was his first significantacademic wor%, and is considered b! most to be hismost important and influential wor%$ ?t is a tour de force of philosophical reasoning,and all but hammered home the last nail in the coffin of thepopular "henomenolog! mo#ement of his one-time teacher and mentor, dmund

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 34/55

usserl$ usserl was entirel! con#inced that he had disco#ered the undisputabletruth of how to approach philosoph!, and it was this (essentiall!usserls -and >escartess before him - #iew of man as a sub4ect confronted b! ob4ects) thateidegger reacted against$

eidegger completel! reBected the approach of most philosophers since >escartes, whohad been tr!ing to pro#e the e&istence of the e&ternal world$ Hore specificall!, hisreBection of "henomenolog! came when he considered specific concrete e&amples inwhich the phenomenological sub4ect-ob4ect relation appears to brea% down$ Dne suche&ample was that of an e&pert carpenter hammering nails, where, when e#er!thing isgoing well, the carpenter does not ha#e to concentrate on the hammer or e#en the nail,and the obBects become essentiall! transparent (what eidegger called @ready tohand@)$ <imilarl!, when we enter a room, we turn the door %nob, but this is such a basicand habitual action that it does not e#en enter our consciousness$

;hus, it is onl! reall! when something goes wrong (e$g$ the hammer is too hea#!, the

door %nob stic%s) that we need to become rational, problem-sol#ing beings$ ;hee&istence of hammers and door %nobs onl! has an! significance and onl! ma%esan! sense at all in the whole social conte&t of wood, houses, construction, etc (whateidegger called @being in the world@)$

eideggers main concern was alwa!s ontology or the stud! of being and, in "Beingand Time" , he as%ed the decepti#el! simple :uestion Gwhat is beingKG, what is actuall!meant b! the #erb to be$ is answer was to distinguish what it is for beings to bebeings (@!ein@) from the e&istence of entities in general (@!eindes@), andconcentrating on the being for whom a description of e&perience might actuall! matter ,the being for whom GbeingG is a 2uestion, the being engaged in the world (C5asein@)$

e further argued that time and human e&istence were ine&tricabl! lin%ed, and that weas humans are alwa!slooking ahead to the future$ ;hus, he argued, being is reall! Busta process of becoming, leading him to totall! reBect the ristotelian idea of a fi&edhuman essence$

 lthough eideggers initial anal!sis of humans as >asein ma%es them sound ratherli%e %ombie-like beings moulded b! societ! and culture and merel! reacting to e#ents,he then introduced the concept of authenticity$ e made a sharp distinctionbetweenfarmers and rural wor%ers, whom he considered to ha#e an instinctive grasp of theirown humanit!, and cit! dwellers, who he described as leading inauthentic lives, out oftouch with their own individuality, which in turn causes anxiety$ ;his an&iet! is ourresponse to the apparentl! arbitrary cultural rules under which we, as >asein,become accustomed to li#ing out our li#es, and eidegger sa!s that there are tworesponses we can chooseF we can flee the an&iet! b! conforming e#en more closel! tothe rules (inauthenticity)0 or face up to it, carr!ing on with dail! life, but, cruciall!,without an! expectation of an! deep final meaning (authenticity)$ ;he latter approachallows us to respond to uni:ue situations in an individual wa! (although still within theconfines of social norms), and this was eideggers idea of how one should live$ or

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 35/55

eidegger, thisacceptance of how things are in the real world, howe#er limiting it ma!be, is itself liberating$

 lthough often considered a founder of &istentialism, (mainl! because his discussionof ontolog! is rooted in an anal!sis of themode of existence of indi#idual human

beings), eidegger #ehementl! re4ected the association, Bust as he hadreBectedusserl3s "henomenolog!$ owe#er, his wor%s such as "Being andTime"  and "-hat is !etaph(sics9"  were certainl! a biginfluence on ean-"aul<artre (and especiall! on his "Being and .othingness" , the title of which is a directallusion to eideggers "Being and Time" )$

or eidegger, genuine philosoph! can not a#oid confronting :uestionsof language and meaning, and he maintained that the description of >asein could onl!be carried out in terminology inherited from the history and tradition of esternphilosoph! itself$ ;hus, he saw "Being and Time"  as Bust a first step in his grando#erall proBect, which was to be followed b! what he called the CdestructionD of the

histor! of philosoph! (a retracing of philosoph!s footsteps, and a transformation of itslanguage and meaning)$ owe#er, he never completed this second step, as he beganto radiall! re-thin% his own #iews$

hile his earlier wor% (essentiall! "Being and Time" ) was concei#ed as a #er! definiteanal!sis of being which applied to all humans an!where at an! time, he later realiCedthat the time or period in which people li#e fundamentall! affects the wa! the! li#e their li#es$ or instance, the ancient Greeks were much more rooted than moderns, andthe! had a much more naturalisticworld#iew0 the medieval hristians belie#ed thatthe! were created creatures and that ods plan for the world could bediscerned0 modern society, on the other hand, sees itself as comprised of active

sub4ects with desires to satisf!, and other obBects were to be made use of$;hese different worldviews, therefore, create :uite different understandings of Bustwhat it is tobe$

 fter the orld ar ??, and eideggers so-called @turn@, then, eidegger began towrite of the commencement of the histor! of estern philosoph!, the "re-<ocratic period of "armenides, eraclitus, and na&imander , as a brief period ofauthenticopenness to being$ ;his was followed, according to eidegger, b! a longperiod, beginning with "lato, increasingl! dominated b!the forgetting or abandonment of this initial openness, occurring in differentways throughout estern histor!$

 lthough he had, at first, considered anxiety to be a uni#ersal e&perience, he realiCedthat the ree%s did not e&perience it, and, for different reasons, neither did the medie#alhristians$ Hodern societ!, howe#er, with its technological, nihilistic understanding ofbeing, leads to the %ind of rootlessness and distress which causes an&iet!$ <o,eidegger belie#ed that an&iet! is #er! much a modern disease$ urthermore, hebelie#ed that modernit! is a uni2ue epoch of histor! in that we ha#e an awareness ofhistor! itself, and we ha#e essentiall! come to the end of philosophy, ha#ing tried out

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 36/55

and discarded all the possible permutations of philosophical thought (what eideggerdescribed as .ihilism)$

eideggers important later works include "4om -esen der -ahrheit"  ("$n the*ssence of Truth" , 19'), "Der 0rsprung des 7unstwerkes"  ("The $rigin of the

-ork of Art" , 195), "Bauen -ohnen Denken"  ("Building Dwelling Thinking" ,1951),"*inf:hrung in die !etaph(sik"  ("An )ntroduction to !etaph(sics" ,195), "Die Frage nach der Technik"  ("The /uestion Concerning Technolog(" ,1954), "-as heisst Denken9"  ("-hat )s Called Thinking9" , 1954), "-as ist das 'die hilosophie9"  ("-hat )s hilosoph(9" , 195/), "0nterwegs zur Sprache"  ("$nthe -a( to Language" , 1959) and "The *nd of hilosoph("  (19/4)$

Language, alwa!s a maBor concern of eidegger, became almost an obsession in hislater wor%$ ?n his #iew, language was not an arbitrary construct0 nor was was it in#entedmerel! to correspond to, or describe, the outside world$ or eidegger, #ocabular! (asell as metaphors, idioms and the whole construction of language), acti#el! names

things into being, and can ha#e a powerful and proacti#e effect on the world$ or him,then, it was the poets, not the philosophers, priests or scientists, who were the#anguard of humanit! and its hope for future development$

Gilbert .yle (19'' - 19/) was a 67th entury $ritish philosopher, mainl! associatedwith the Drdinar! Language "hilosoph! mo#ement$

e had an enormous influence on the de#elopment of 2'th entur! nal!tic"hilosoph!, particularl! in the areas of "hilosoph! of Hind and "hilosoph! of Language$

e was especiall! well-%nown for his definitive criti2ue ofthe >ualism of >escartes (for which he coined the phrase @the ghost in the machine@)and other traditional mind-body theories$ is form of /hilosophical$ehaviourism (the belief that all mental phenomena can be e&plained b! reference topublicl! observable behaviour ) became a standard #iew for se#eral decades$

Life

+!le was born on 19 ugust 19'' in $righton, ngland, one of ten children in aprosperous famil!$ is father  was a doctor but also a generalist who had interests in

philosoph! and astronom!, and passed on to his children an impressi#e library, and the!oung +!le grew up in an environment of learning$

e was educated at $righton ollege and, in 1919, he went to ueens ollege80xford, initiall! to stud! lassics, although he was soon drawn to /hilosophy$e graduated with first class honours in 1924 and was appointed to a lectureship in"hilosoph! at hrist hurch8 0xford$ e became a tutor  a !ear later, and remained at

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 37/55

hrist hurch until World War << (and remained at D&ford for his entire academiccareer  until his retirement in 19/8)$

  capable linguist, +!le was recruited to intelligence work with the WelshGuards during orld ar ??, and rose to the ran% of 1a4or  b! the end of the ar$ e

returned to D&ford in 1945 where he was elected Waynflete /rofessor of1etaphysical /hilosophy and Fellow of 1agdalen ollege8 0xford$ e wasgenerall! regarded as easy-going and sociable and an entertaining con#ersationalist,but a fierce and forbidable debater , unforgi#ing of pomposit! and pretentiousness$

e was president of the Aristotelian !ociety from 1945 to 194/, and editor of thephilosophical Bournal "!ind"  for nearl! twent!-fi#e !ears from 194 to 191$ epublished his principal wor%, "The Concept of !ind" , in 1949$

  confirmed bachelor , he li#ed after his retirement in 19/8 with his twin sister, 1ary,in the #illage of <slip, D&fordshire$Gardening and walking ga#e him immense pleasure,

as did his pipe (without which he was rarel! seen)$ +!le died on / Dctober 19/at Whitby in .orth =or%shire, after a da!s wal%ing on the moors$

Work *ac% to ;op

?n his writing, +!le had a literary and instantly recogni%able style$ e is mainl! %nownfor his boo%, "The Concept of !ind" (1949), but he also wrote a collection of shorterpieces called "Dilemmas"  (1954), as well as "lato8s rogress"  (19//) and "$nThinking"  (199)$ "The Concept of !ind"  in particular was recogniCed on itsappearance as an important contribution tophilosophical psychology and "hilosoph!of Hind, and an important wor% in the Drdinar! Language "hilosoph! mo#ement$

?n his "The Concept of !ind"  of 1949, +!le attac%ed the body-mind >ualism (theclaim that the Hind is an independent entity, inhabiting and governing the bod!)which has largel! permeated estern "hilosoph! since +enO >escartes in the 1thentur!, reBecting it as a redundant piece of literalism carried o#er from the era beforethe biological sciences became established$ e dismissed the idea that nature isa complex machine, and that human nature is a smaller machine with a@ghost@ in itto account for intelligence, spontaneity and other such human 2ualities (he referredto >escartes model as Gthe dogma of the ghost in the machineG)$

+!le belie#ed that the classical theories (whether artesian, ?dealist or Haterialist)

made a basic @category-mistake@ b! attempting to anal!Ce the relation between GmindGand Gbod!G as if the! were terms of the same logical category$ e argued thatphilosophers do not need a @hidden@ principle to e&plain the supra-mechanicalcapacities of humans, because the wor%ings of the mind are not distinct from theactions of the bod!, but are one and the same$ Loo%ed at another wa!, he characteriCedthe mind as a set of capacities and abilities belonging to the bod!$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 38/55

e claimed that mental vocabulary is merel! a different wa! of describing action, andthat a persons motives are defined b! that persons dispositions to act in certainsituations$ e concluded that ade:uate descriptions of human behaviour  need ne#errefer to an!thing but the operations of human bodies, which can be seen as a formof /hilosophical $ehaviourism (also %nown as Analytical or Logical *eha#iourism)

which became a standard view among Drdinar! Language philosophers for se#eraldecades (although more recentl! it has morphed into a %ind of Functionalism)$

+!le also formulated a cartography analogy for his conception of philosoph!$ esuggested that competent speakers of a language are to a philosopher  what simplevillagers are to a mapmaker $ ;he #illager %nows his wa! around his #illage wellenough for personal and practical purposes, but ma! not be able to use a map topinpoint or describe routes to an outsider$ ?n the same wa!, philosophers should be ableto e&plain and ma%e apparent the meaning of sentences b! @mapping@ the words andphrases of a particular statement, generating what +!le called @implication threads@,such that each word or phrase of a statement contributes to the statement in such a

wa! that, if the words or phrases were changed, the statement would ha#e adifferentimplication$ "hilosoph!, then, should search for the meaning of these implicationthreads in the statements in which the! are used$

(ean-/aul harles Aymard !artre (19'5 - 198') was a French philosopher, writer andpolitical acti#ist, and one of the central figures in 67th entury Frenchphilosoph!$

e is best %nown as the main figurehead of the &istentialism mo#ement$ long withhis rench contemporaries Albert amus (191 - 19/') and !imone de

$eauvoir  (19'8 - 198/), he helped populariCe the mo#ement throughhis novels andplays as well as through his more academic works$ s a !oung man,he also made significant contributions to "henomenolog!$

e was a confirmed theist and a committed ommunist and Har&ist, and too% aprominent role in man! leftist political causes throughout his adult life$

Life

<artre was born in /aris, rance on 21 une 19'5$ is father was (ean-$aptiste!artre, an officer of the rench .a#!, who died of a fe#er when <artre was onl! 15

months old0 his mother was Anne-1arie !chweit%er , of lsatian origin and cousin tothe erman .obel "eace "riCe winner Albert !chweit%er  (185 - 19/5)$ is motherraised him with help from her father, harles !chweit%er , a high school professor oferman, who taught <artre mathematics and introduced him toclassical literature ata #er! earl! age$ s a bo!, he was small and cross-eyed andsocially awkward$ henhis mother remarried in 191, the famil! mo#ed to La .ochelle$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 39/55

e first became attracted to philosoph! on reading the "*ssa( on the )mmediate Dataof Consciousness"  b! *enri $ergson(1859 - 1941) as a teenager in the 192's$ eattended high school at the Lyc#e *enri <9 in "aris, and then went on to stud! at theelite Hcole ;ormale !up#rieure (the alma mater for se#eral prominent rench thin%ersand intellectuals) from 1924 until 1929, where he absorbed the ideas of ?mmanuel

Aant, eorg egel, dmund usserl and Hartin eidegger  among others$hile at the Pcole .ormale, he came into contact with such notables as 1aurice1erleau-/onty (19'8 - 19/1), .aymond Aron (19'5 - 198), !imone Weil (19'9 -194), (ean *ippolyte (19' - 19/8) and laude L#vi-!trauss (19'8 - )$ Hostimportantl!, he also met !imone de $eauvoir  (19'8 - 198/), who was stud!ing atthe !orbonne at that time, and the two became inseparable and remained lifelongcompanions (although not monogamously), deliberatel! challengingthe culturaland social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings$ >e*eau#oir went on to become a noted thinker  in her own right, as well as a popularwriter  and prominent feminist$

<artre graduated from the Pcole .ormale <upOrieure in 1929 with a doctorate inphilosoph!, and then ser#ed for a period as a conscript in the French Army from 1929to 191$ e obtained a position teaching philosoph! at the l!cOe in Le *avre, and thenobtained a grant to stud! at the French <nstitute in $erlin in 19 where he studiedthe "henomenolog! of usserl andeidegger  in more detail, and began to de#elop hisown profoundl! original &istentialism$ e published two important earl! wor%s, "LaTranscendance de l8;go"  ("Transcendence of the *go" ) and "*s6uisse d8uneth;orie des ;motions"  ("Sketch for a Theor( of the *motions" ) in 19/ and 198respecti#el!, and his groundbrea%ing e&istentialist no#el "La .aus;e"  (".ausea" )came out in 198$

?n 199, at the start of World War <<, <artre was drafted into the rench arm!, where heser#ed as a meteorologist$ e wascaptured b! erman troops in 194' in /adoux,and he spent nine months as a prisoner of war  in ;ancy and then in !talag?65 at 3rier , erman!$ e was released in pril 1941 due to poor health andgi#en civilian status$ e reco#ered his position as a teacher at the Lyc#e /asteur  near "aris, and then soon after too% up a new position at the Lyc#e ondorcet$

e settled near 1ontparnasse in "aris, where a group of intellectuals gatheredaround him in the cafOs of the Left *an%, especiall! the af# de Flore$ e participatedin the founding of the underground group !ocialisme et Libert# with other writersincluding de *eau#oir and Herleau-"ont!$ fter the high-profile writers Andr#Gide (18/9 - 1951) and Andr# 1alraux (19'1 - 19/) were approached but did not

 Boin, <artre became discouraged and the group soon dissolved and he turnedto writing in earnest$ e wrote the pla!s "Les !ouches"  ("The Flies" ) in 194and ",uis'clos"  (".o *+it" ) in 1944, managing to a#oid erman censorship, and hismost important scholarl! wor% on &istentialism, "L8<tre et le n;ant"  ("Being and.othingness" ), was written in 194$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 40/55

 lthough some commentators critici%ed <artres lac% of political commitment duringthe erman occupation, he was an acti#e contributor to "Les Lettres Fran=aise"  andto "Com#at" , clandestine newspapers of the French .esistance, through which hemet Albert amus, a li%e-minded philosopher and author$ <artre and de *eau#oirremained close friends with amus until he turned awa! from ommunism in 1951$

 fter the ar, <artre and de *eau#oir established "Les Temps !odernes"  ("!odernTimes" ), a monthl! literar! and political re#iew, and he started writing full-time as wellas continuing his political activism$ e drew on his war e&periences for hisgreat trilogy of novels, "Les Chemins de la Li#ert;"  ("The %oads to Freedom" )(1945 - 1949)$ ?n 1948, the .oman atholic hurch placed his complete wor%s onits <ndex of /rohibited $ooks$

>uring this post-ar period, <artre was a #er! public intellectual and could alwa!s befound openl! chatting, discussing and writing in the cafOs of <t$ ermain des "rQs andthe trend! Left *an% of "aris$ >espite his rather unprepossessing appearance, heattracted the attentions of man! glamorous women, and had man! mistresses in

addition to his on-going relationship with <imone de *eau#oir (whom he affectionatel!called Gthe *ea#erG) and with 1ichelle 9ian$ e also attracted a lot of press coverage,much of it negati#e, and he was publicl! accused of moral corruption and ofspreading hopelessness among the !oung$ #entuall!, he was hounded out b! theattentions of the press and forced to retreat from his public caf# lifestyle$ e mo#edbac% to his mothers house in the rue *onaparte where he could wor% in peace$

 lthough he ne#er officiall! Boined the ommunist /arty, <artreembraced ommunism for man! !ears, while continuing to defended &istentialism$?ndeed, he spent much of the 195's tr!ing to reconcile the individualistphilosophy of &istentialismwith the collective vision of Har&ism and ommunism$

is continued support for +ussian ommunism officiall! ended, howe#er, on the entr!of <o#iet tan%s into $udapest in 195/, and he roundl! condemned both the !ovietintervention and thesubmission of the rench ommunist "art! to the interests ofHoscow$

is ongoing criti:ues of ommunism led to his formulation of @!artrian !ocialism@, amodel which demanded that Har&ismrecogniCe differences between one societ! andanother and respect human freedom$ is "Criti6ue de la raisondialecti6ue" ("Criti6ue of Dialectical %eason" ) of 19/' was intended togi#e Har&ism a more #igorous intellectual defence than it had recei#ed up until then,and also to reconcile it with his e&istentialist ideas about free will$ ?n the 19/'s, hetra#elled to uba to meet Fidel astro (192/ - ) and spent a great deal of timephilosophiCing with )rnesto @he@ Guevara (1928 - 19/), whom he idoliCed$

e became increasingl! politically active during the late 195's and 19/'s$ e too% aprominent role in the struggle againstFrench rule in Algeria, and he was an eminentsupporter of the Front de Lib#ration nationale "FL;& (.ational Liberation ront, the

 lgerian socialist part!) in the Algerian War  of 1954 - 19/2 and one of the signatoriesof the 1anifeste des ?6?$ e also had an lgerian mistress, Arlette )lkaIm, who

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 41/55

became his adopted daughter  in 19/5$ long with *ertrand +ussell and others, he#ociferousl! opposed the 9ietnam War  in the 19/'s$ e was acti#el! in#ol#ed inthe student strikes in "aris during the summer of 19/8, during which he was arrestedse#eral times for civil disobedience$

?n the aftermath of the 19/8 "aris unrest, <artre lost faith in the rench ommunist"art! and in ommunism is general, and returned to a more individualist, butstill radical, outloo%, closer to narchism$ e remained outspo%en in his radical #iews,though, and caused something of a scandal b! tr!ing to Bustif! the 1unichmassacre in which ele#en ?sraeli Dl!mpians were %illed b! the a /alestinian terroristorganiCation in 192$

ith his witt! and sardonic autobiograph!, "Les mots"  ("-ords" ) of 19/4,<artre renounced literature, calling it a bourgeois substitute for real commitment inthe world$ ?n the same !ear, he was awarded the ;obel /ri%e for Literature, buthe declinedit in protest against the #alues of bourgeois society (Bust as he had earlier

refused the L#gion dhonneur  in 1945)$>uring the 19's, <artres ph!sical condition deteriorated, partiall! due to hismerciless pace of work (and his use of amphetamines)$ ;he last proBect of his life, amassi#e anal!tical biograph! of the rench author Gustave Flaubert, as well as aproposed second #olume of the "Criti6ue of Dialectical %eason" , bothremained unfinished$ e died on 15 pril 198' in "aris from an oedema of the lung,and was buried in the imetiJre de 1ontparnasse in "aris$ is funeral was attendedb! 78777 mourners$

Work *ac% to ;op

 dopting and adapting the methods of "henomenolog! and, particularl!, the wor%of Hartin eidegger , <artre set out to de#elop an ontological account of what it is tobe human$ ;he basis of his &istentialism is found in his earl! boo% "LaTranscendance de l8;go"  ("Transcendence of the *go" ) of 19/, was de#elopedin "L8<tre et le n;ant"  ("Being and .othingness" ) of 194, and refined andsummariCed in "L8e+istentialisme est un humanisme"  ("*+istentialism is a,umanism" ) of 194/$

*ut he also belie#ed that our ideas are the product of e&periences of real-lifesituations, and that novels and plays describing such fundamental e&periences

ha#e as much value for the elaboration of philosophical theories as do discursi#eessa!s$ ;hus, his novels such as "La .aus;e"  (".ausea" ) of 1928 and the "LesChemins de la Li#ert;"  ("The %oads to Freedom" ) trilog! of 1945 to 1949, were alsoimportant #ehicles of his thought, as were his plays li%e "Les !ouches"  ("The Flies" )of 194, ",uis'clos"  (".o *+it" ) of 1944 (with its famous line, GLenfer, cest les autresGor Gell is other peopleG), and "Les !ains Sales"  ("Dirt( ,ands" ) of 1948, and his#olume of short stories, "Le !ur"  ("The -all" )$ whole school of absurd literaturesubse:uentl! de#eloped$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 42/55

?n <artres &istentialism, @existence is prior to essence@ (or, put a different wa!, thee&istence of humans precedes consciousness), in the sense that the meaning ofmans life is not established before his e&istence, and man is @thrown into@into aconcrete, in#eterate uni#erse that cannot be @thought away@$ ;hus, it is what wedo and how we act in our life thatdetermines our apparent G:ualitiesG$ s <artre put itF

Gt first RHanS is nothing$ Dnl! afterward will he be something, and he himself will ha#emade what he will beG$

<artre firml! belie#ed that e#er!one, alwa!s and e#er!where, has choices andtherefore freedom$ #en in the most apparentl! cut-and-dried situations, e#en in theface of what appears to be ine#itablit!, a person alwa!s has a choice of actions,whether it be to do nothing, whether it be to run awa!, or whether it be to ris% ones #er!life$ ;his freedom is empowering, but it also comes with responsibility$

<artre famousl! declared that @man is condemned to be free@ (meaning, free from allauthorit!) and, although he ma! see% toevade, distort or deny that freedom (what

<artre called @mauvaise foi@ or bad faith@), he will ne#ertheless ha#e to face up to it ifhe is to become a moral being$ ?ndi#iduals are responsible for the choices the!ma%e, and for their emotional lives, but because the! are alwa!s conscious ofthe limits of knowledge and of mortality, the! constantl! li#e with existentialdread or @angst@$

?n his 194/ essa!, "L8e+istentialisme est un humanisme"  ("*+istentialism is a,umanism" ), seen b! man! as one of thedefining texts ofthe &istentialist mo#ement, <artre described the human condition in asuccinct summary formF GHan is nothing else but that which he ma%es of himself$ ;hatis the first principle of e&istentialism$G ;hus, freedom entails total responsibility, in the

face of which we e&perience anguish, forlornness and despair , and genuine humandignity can be achie#ed onl! in our active acceptance of these emotions$

<artre concluded from his arguments that if God exists, then man is not free0 b! thesame to%en, if man is free, then God does not exist$ theism, then, is taken forgranted in <artres philosoph!, but he maintained that the Gloss of odG is not to bemourned$ Dn the contrar!, in a godless universe, life has no meaning or purposebe!ond the goals that each man sets for himself, and indi#iduals musttherefore detach themsel#es from things in order to gi#e them meaning$

 lthough <artre is considered b! man! to be an important and inno#ati#e philosopher,others are much less impressed b! his contributions$ eidegger  himself thought that<artre had merel! ta%en his own wor% and regressed it bac% to the sub4ect-ob4ectorientated philosoph! of >escartes and usserl, which is e&actl! what eidegger had been tr!ing to free philosoph! from$ <ome see 1aurice 1erleau-/onty (19'8 -19/1) as a better &istentialist philosopher, particular for his incorporation ofthe body as our wa! of being in the world, and for his more complete anal!sisof perception (two areas in which eidegger s wor% is often seen as deficient)$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 43/55

Willard 9an 0rman uine (A W: 9: 0: uine, or @9an@ to his friends) (19'8 - 2''')was an American philosopher and mathematical logician, widel! considered one of

the most important philosophers of the second half of the 67th entury$

is criticisms and modifications of Logical "ositi#ism and "ragmatism wereinstrumental in mo#ing 2'th entur! nal!tic "hilosoph! along, and he re#olutioniCedde#elopments in pistemolog!, Hetaph!sics, Logic, "hilosoph! ofLanguage and /hilosophy of 1athematics$ is consistent application of analyticmethods led him to a %ind of e&treme mpiricism, .aturalism and "h!sicalism$

e published o#er twenty books and numerous articles, all written in a distincti#e crispand witty style$ or the last ' !ears of his long life, he was affiliated in some wa!with *arvard 'niversity, first as a student, then as a teacher and professor, and finall!

as an emeritus elder statesman$

Life

Juine was born on 25 une 19'8 in a modest frame house in Akron, Dhio, 7<$ isfather, loyd .obert uine, was an engineer and manufacturing entrepreneur andcontinued to wor% at the Akron )2uipment ompany until his death in 19/$ ismother, *arriet 9an 0rman, was a college-educated local schoolteacher$ e had anelder brother called .obert loyd uine$

is interest in philosoph! began earl! and, aged nine, he fretted o#er the absurdit! ofhea#en and hell$ e chose scientific courses at his local high school, and was anardent stamp collector  and list-maker , fascinated b! etymology and obsessedwith maps and farawa! places$ Later in high school, his brother ga#e him illiamames "ragmatism" , which he read compulsi#el! (although he alwa!s claimed that itwas reading )dgar Allen /oes short stor! "*ureka"  that first filled him with a desireto understand the universe)$

e earned his *$$ in mathematics and philosophy in 19' from 0berlin ollege (apri#ate, highl! selecti#e liberal arts college in 0berlin, Dhio), where his appetite forGcosmic understandingG was sharpened b! reading *ertrand +ussell$ e was awarded ascholarship to *arvard 'niversity, which mar%ed the start of a remar%able >7-year

association with the institution$ e completed his "h$>$ in Bust two !ears in 192, under the super#ision of lfred .orth hitehead, and was then appointed a*arvard (uniorFellow, which e&cused him from ha#ing to teach for the ne&t four !ears$

?n 192, he married his first wife, ;aomi layton$ ;han%s to a fellowship, he tra#elledin )urope during 192 and 19, meetingAlfred 3arski (19'1 - 198) (who was later toaccept Juines in#itation to attend a congress in ambridge, thereb! a#oiding the .aCicrac%down in "oland) and other "olish logicians, as well as Kurt G,del (who had Bust

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 44/55

produced his renowned ?ncompleteness ;heorem) and the Logical "ositi#ists .udolfarnap (1891 - 19'), 1orit% !chlick and other members of the9ienna ircle, andtheir *ritish disciple, lfred !er $ e became arnaps Gardent discipleG and, althoughthe! were to become increasingl! combative philosophicall!, the! remained firmfriends$

>uring the 19's, he de#eloped his ideas in man! articles, mainl! on Logic and settheory, as well as his first boo%, "A S(stem $f Logistics"  in 19$ ?n 194', heproduced the popular te&tboo%, "!athematical Logic" $ e became an <nstructor  of"hilosoph! at ar#ard in 19/, and then Associate /rofessor  in 1941$

Juine was a talented linguist and preferred to learn his audiences rench, erman,<panish, "ortuguese or whate#er, andlecture in that rather than nglish$ or e&ample,during World War <<, he lectured on Logic in $ra%il in "ortuguese$ e also ser#ed in the7nited <tates .a#! in a military intelligence role, reaching the ran% of Lieutenantommander $ ?n 1945, Juine and his wife, ha#ing had two daughters, )li%abeth (born

195) and ;orma (born 19), separated and the! were divorced two !ears later$e was promoted to full professor  at ar#ard in 1948$ ?n the same !ear, he marriedagain, his second wife being 1ar4orie $oynton (who he had met while ser#ing in the.a#!), and the! were to bear a son and a daughter, 5ouglas (born 195')and1argaret (born 1954)$ Juine lo#ed 5ixieland 4a%% and pla!ed the ban4o in BaCCgroups during this period, as well as the piano$

Juine held the dgar "ierce hair of "hilosoph! at ar#ard 7ni#ersit! from 195/ untilhis retirement from ar#ard in 198, and then as /rofessor )meritus until his death in2'''$ is prolific output and his obsession with travelling continued up to and

be!ond his retirement (throughout his life he #isited ?? countries) and he commuteddail! to his ar#ard office well after his retirement$

e first established his wider reputation with his seminal 1951 boo%, "Two Dogmas $f *mpiricism" , but he continued publishing and re#ising at a frantic pace for most of therest of his life, including "-ord And $#&ect"  (19/'), "hilosoph( ofLogic"  (19/9), "Set Theor( and )ts Logic"  (19/), "!ethods of Logic"  (192), "The%oots of %eference"  (19), "Theories and Things"  (1981), "ursuit ofTruth"  (1989), "/uiddities"  (199') and "From Stimulus to Science"  (1995)$

 mong the eighteen universities which awarded him an honorary degree were ;he

7ni#ersit! of Lille, D&ford 7ni#ersit!, ambridge 7ni#ersit!, 7ppsala 7ni#ersit!, the7ni#ersit! of *ern and (of course) ar#ard 7ni#ersit!$ e was elected tofellowships ofman! learned societies including the American Academy of Arts and!ciences (1949), the $ritish Academy(1959), the <nstituto $rasileiro deFilosophia (19/), the ;ational Academy of !ciences (19), the <nstitut deFrance(198) and the ;orwegian Academy of !ciences (199)$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 45/55

Juine died on 25 >ecember 2'''$ is ashes rest between his parents in the lendaleemetar!, Akron, Dhio, with portions also scattered in ambridge,Hassachusetts, *arvard, Hassachusetts, and 1eriden, onnecticut$

Work *ac% to ;op

Juines philosoph! at first seems utterl! fragmentary, with fundamental shifts indoctrine$ owe#er, o#er time, his philosoph! assumed a growing systematiccoherence$

?n pistemolog!, he was %nown for re4ecting epistemological oundationalism in fa#our of what he called @naturali%ed epistemology@, whose tas% was to gi#ea psychological account of how scientific %nowledge is obtained$ ;his was in effect a%ind of allibilism (the doctrine that all claims to %nowledge could, in principle,be mistaken, and that we need not ha#e logically conclusive Bustifications for what we%now)$

Juines seminal 1951 essa!, "Two Dogmas $f *mpiricism" , and its follow-up "Froma Logical oint of 4iew"  of 195, were the wor%s which first established his reputation$?n these wor%s, he denied the importance (and e#en the e&istence) of the@analytic-synthetic distinction@, a claim that was seen almost as heresy in most  nal!tic"hilosoph! camps of the da!$ ;he distinction between @analytic@ statements (thosetrue simpl! b! the meanings of their words, such as Gll bachelors are unmarriedG)and @synthetic@ statements (those true or false b! #irtue of facts about the world, suchas G;here is a cat on the matG) had first been established b! ?mmanuel Aant in the 18thentur!, and was one of the cardinal doctrines of Logical "ositi#ism$ Juine arguedthat ultimatel! the definition of Ganal!ticG was circular  and that the whole notion of truth

by definitionwas unsatisfactor!$ e further argued that there is in fact no distinctionbetween uni#ersall! %nown collateral information and conceptual or anal!tic truths$

*! den!ing it, Juine effecti#el! made e#en the @truths@ of Logic and mathematicstotall! empirical, and opened the door for logical and mathematical statements to be (inprinciple at least) modified or e#en abandoned in the light of experience, in much thesame wa! as factual statements are$ ;his led to the de#elopment of a naturalistic andre#italiCed pistemolog!, and his wor% heralded a ma4or shift awa! from the #iewsof language descended from Logical "ositi#ism, and a new appreciation ofthedifficulty of pro#iding a sound empirical basis for thesesconcerning convention, meaning and synonymy$

;he other main tenet of Logical "ositi#ism attac%ed b! Juine in these wor%s was thatof +eductionism (the theor! that an! meaningful statement gets its meaning fromsome logical construction of terms which refers e&clusi#el! to immediateexperience)$ lthough Juines criticisms pla!ed a maBor role in the decline of Logical"ositi#ism, he remained a @erificationist$ ;hus, he belie#ed that, while it ma! bepossible to #erif! or falsif! whole theories, it is not possible to #erif! orfalsif! individual statements$ e also subscribed to a %ind of +elati#ism, belie#ing that

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 46/55

for an! collection of empirical e#idence, there would alwa!s be many theories able toaccount for it$

?n his Hetaph!sics and ontology (or @ontic theory@ as Juine referred to it), two articlesstand out, "Steps toward a Constructi1e .ominalism"  (194) and "$n -hat There

)s"  (1948)$ ?n general, his ontolog! was originall! nominalistic, maintaining thatonl! particular individuals e&ist, and that universals or abstract entities do not e&ist(e&cept perhaps aslinguistic symbols)$ e made clear, howe#er, that acceptedscientific theories allow for more than one ontic theor! of e&istence, and that itis incorrect to see% to determine that Bust one such ontic theor! is true$ ;he primac!of mathematical logic in Juines ontolog! is e#ident in his celebrated definition ofbeingF G;o be is to be the #alue of a #ariableG$

"-ord And $#&ect"  (19/'), along with his later "ursuit of Truth"  (199'), attac%edpre#ailing theories in "hilosoph! of Language which see meanings as obBects in a %indof museum of ideas, with verbal expressions as their arbitrar!, interchangeable labels$

*! this time, he had abandoned his earlier .ominalism b! ac%nowledging the existenceof abstract entities, and he also de#eloped a behaviourist account of languagelearning$ ?t was in "-ord And $#&ect"  that he first proposed his thesis ofthe indeterminacy of translation, particularl! regarding radical translation (theattempt to translate a hitherto un%nown language)$ e noted that there arealwa!s different ways one might brea% a sentence into words, and different wa!sto distribute functions among words, so that a single sentence must alwa!s be ta%ento ha#e more than one different meaning$ e effecti#el! broadened the principle of<emantic or onfirmation olism still further to arri#e at the position thatasentence (and therefore a word) has meaning onl! in the conte&t of a wholelanguage$

Juines earl! wor% was mainl! on mathematical Logic, including significantcontributions to the de#elopment of the important mathematical area of set theory,particularl! in his papers "A S(stem of Logic"  (194), ".ew Foundations of!athematical Logic"  (19), "!athematical Logic"  (194'), "!ethods ofLogic"  (195') and "Set Theor( and )ts Logic"  (19/)$

e also de#eloped an interesting parado&, which has come to be %nown as uines/aradoxF G!ields falsehood when preceded b! its :uotationG !ields falsehood whenpreceded b! its :uotation$

!ir Alfred (ules "@Freddie@& Ayer  (better %nown as Alfred Ayer  or A: (: Ayer ) (191' -1989) was a 67th entury $ritish philosopher in the nal!tic "hilosoph!tradition,mainl! %nown for his promotion of Logical "ositi#ism and for populari%ingthemo#ements ideas in *ritain$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 47/55

e saw himself as continuing in the *ritish mpiricist tradition of Loc%e and umeandmore contemporar! philosophers li%e *ertrand +ussell, and is often considered secondonl! to +ussell among $ritish philosophers of the 2'th entur! in the depth ofhis philosophical knowledge$

Life lfred !er was born on 29 Dctober 191' in London, ngland, into a wealth! famil!of continental origin$ is mother, .eine, was from a 5utch-(ewish famil!0 hisfather, (ules Louis yprien Ayer , was a !wiss alvinist$ e grew up in the well-to-do !t: (ohns Wood area of London, and was educated at the e&clusi#e Ascham !t:9incent preparator! school for bo!s at astbourne, and then at e#en moreprestigious )ton ollege$

  precocious but mischievous child, !er alwa!s felt himself to be something ofan outsider $ rom an earl! age, he tried to convert his fellow students to theism, and

at the age of at he 1/ started to show aserious interest in philosoph!, dul! impressedb! his reading of *ertrand +ussells "Sceptical *ssa(s"  and $ $ Hoores"rincipia*thica" $

?n 1929, he won a classics scholarship to hrist hurch ollege at the 'niversity of0xford, where one of his philosoph! tutors, Gilbert .yle (19'' - 19/), introduced himto ittgensteins "Tractatus" $ +!le, who became a maBor figure in the Drdinar!Language "hilosoph! mo#ement, also enabled the !oung lfred to stud! for a timewith 1orit% !chlick (1882 - 19/), then leader of the influential 9ienna ircle, out ofwhich the Logical "ositi#ism mo#ement grew$ rom 19 to 1944, he wasa lecturer  andresearch fellow at hrist hurch, D&ford$

>uring World War <<, !er ser#ed in the *ritish militar!, wor%ing for the !pecial0perations )xecutive (a secret intelligence and espionage unit) and helping toorganiCe the French resistance mo#ement in London$ e was popularl! %nown afterthe ar as a participant on the $$ discussion program "The Brains Trust" $ e was anoted social mixer  and womani%er  (he wasmarried four times), and enBo!ed dancingand attending the London clubs, as well as being a well %nown face in the crowd at hisbelo#ed 3ottenham *otspur Football lub, where he was %nown as G;he "rofG$>espite his reputation for aloofness and #anit!, his circle of friends includedman! famous names in the fields of politics, literature and philosoph!$

 !er was the rote "rofessor of the "hilosoph! of Hind and Logic at the 'niversityollege London from 194/ until 1959, when he became !%eham "rofessor of Logicat the 'niversity of 0xford, a position he retained until 198$ e was an onorar!

 ssociate of the .ationalist /ress Association from 194 until his death, president ofthe Aristotelian !ociety from 1951 to 1952, and president of the $ritish *umanistAssociation from 19/5 to 19'$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 48/55

?n the 195's and 19/'s, !er %ept up a hectic schedue of lecture tours throughouturope and <outh merica, and then later in hina, +ussia, ?ndia and "a%istan$ etaught and lectured se#eral times in the 'nited !tates, including ser#ing as a #isitingprofessor at $ard ollege in .ew =or% <tate$ ?n 19/, he had a son, ;icholas, b! hissecond wife, 5ee Wells, an e&perience which apparentl! had a profound effect on

him$ ;hroughout this period, he continued to be acti#e the *ritish Labour /arty, whichhe had first Boined before the ar$ mong other honours, he was knighted in 19'$

e is generall! considered to ha#e been an outspo%en atheist, although @igtheist@ (aperson who belie#es that GodG denotes no verifiable hypothesis) ma! be a betterdescription$ owe#er, in 1988, shortl! before his death, he recei#ed much publicit! afteran unusual near-death experience, which wea%ened his infle&ible attitude that thereis no life after death, and prompted him to write an article called Ghat ? saw when ?was deadG$ e died of a collapsed lung in London on 2 une 1989$

Work *ac% to ;op

 $ $ !er had a crisp, clear and informati#e writing style, in which he could la! barethe bones of a philosophical difficult! in a few paragraphs of strikingly simple prose$e is often considered second onl! to *errand +ussell among $ritish philosophersofthe 2'th entur! in the depth of his philosophical knowledge$

?n addition to two autobiographies, he wrote boo%s on *ertrand +ussell, $ $Hoore, >a#id ume and @oltaire, all of whom had a lasting influence on his own wor%$e saw himself as continuing in the line of *ritish mpiricism establishedb! Loc%eand ume and more contemporar! philosophers li%e +ussell$

 !er began the boo% that made his philosophical name, "Language> Truth> andLogic" , at the tender age of 2 as a !oung lecturer at D&ford, and it was publishedthree !ears later in 19/$ ;he boo% is regarded as a classic of 2'th entur! nal!tic"hilosoph! and Logical "ositi#ism, and is still widely read in philosoph! coursesaround the world$ ?n it, he populariCed theverification principle (an issue at the heart of the debates of the 9ienna ircle at the time), that a sentence is meaninglessunless ithas verifiable empirical import (see the section on @erificationism)$

e also claimed in the boo% that the distinction between a conscious human andan unconscious machine merel! resol#es itself into a distinction between Gdifferentt!pes of perceptible behaviour G (a contentious argument which anticipates the

195'3uring test of a machines intelligence or consciousness)$ e also put forwardan emotivist theor! of thics (a %ind of Horal nti-+ealism or .on-ogniti#ism, whichholds that that ethical 4udgments are primaril! Bust expressions of ones own attitudeand imperatives designed to change the attitudes and actions of others), whichhe never abandoned$

is later wor%s include "Foundations of *mpirical 7nowledge"  (194'), "Thero#lem of 7nowledge"  (195/) and "Logical ositi1ism"  (19//)$ ?n 19,

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 49/55

his "Central /uestions of hilosoph("  was published$ ;he boo% was acomprehensi#e confirmation of his Logical "ositi#ist outloo% that large parts of whatwas traditionally called Gphilosoph!G (including the wholeof Hetaph!sics, 3heology and esthetics) were not matters that could be Budged asbeing true or false and that it was thusmeaningless to e#en discuss them$

;hese claims, and his complete re4ection of the possibilit! of s!nthetic apriori %nowledge, made him rather unpopular among other *ritish philosophers$ orman! !ears he %ept up a highl! public ongoing battle against the Drdinar! Language"hilosoph! of (: L: Austin (1911 - 19/') and /eter !trawson (1919 - 2''/) inparticular$

1ichel Foucault (192/ - 1984) was a French philosopher, historian, critic and

sociologist, often associated with the 2'th entur! <tructuralism, "ost-<tructuralism and "ost-Hodernism mo#ements (although he himself alwa!sre4ectedsuch labels)$

e was no stranger to controversy, and he was notorious for his radical leftistpolitics$ lthough not without his critics, he has howe#er had a profound influence ona diverse range of disciplines$

Life

Hichel oucault (pronounced foo-CO) was born on 15 Dctober 192/ to a notablepro#incial famil! in /oitiers in west central rance$ is father, /aul Foucault, was aneminent surgeon and hoped his son would follow him into the profession$ isearlyeducation was a mi& of success and mediocrit! until he attended the esuitollJge!aint-!tanislas, where he e&celled$ fter World War <<, he gained entr! to theprestigious Hcole ;ormale !up#rieure in /aris, the traditional gatewa! toan academic career  in the humanities in rance$

 t the Pcole .ormale, he suffered from acute depression, and became fascinatedwith psychology$ e Boined the French ommunist /arty from 195' to 195, inductedinto the part! b! the prominent Har&ist philosopher Louis Althusser  (1918 - 199'),although he left the part! due to concerns about what was happening in the !oviet

'nion under (oseph !talin (188 - 19) and was ne#er a particularl! acti#e member$  particularl! influential lecturer was the &istentialist and "henomenologist 1aurice1erleau-/onty (19'8 - 19/1)$ ?n 1952, he earned a degree in psychology (then arelati#el! new :ualification in rance) as well as in philosoph!$

 fter a brief period lecturing at the Pcole .ormale, he too% up a position teachingpsychology at the 'niversity of Lille from 195 to 1954, but it soon became clear tohim that teaching was not his real #ocation$ rom 1954 to 1958, his friend and

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 50/55

mentor Georges 5um#%il (1898 - 198/) arranged a position for him as rench culturaldelegate to the 'niversity of 'ppsala in <weden, and then he briefl! held positionsat Warsaw 'niversity and at the 'niversity of *amburg before returning to Francein19/'$

e too% up a post in philosoph! at the 'niversity of lermont-Ferrand, where hecompleted his doctorate$ is doctorate thesis was later published in an abridged editionas "Folie et d;raison"  ("!adness and )nsanit(" , also re-published as "!adness and Ci1ilization"  and ",istor( of !adness" ), and was e&tremel! well-received$ e alsomet 5aniel 5efert (b$ 19), with whom he li#ed in a non-monogamouspartnership for the rest of his life$ hen >efert was posted to 3unisia for his militar!ser#ice in 19/5, oucault mo#ed to a position at the 'niversity of 3unis$ ?n 19// hepublished "Les !ots et les choses"  ("The $rder of Things" ), which was enormouslypopular  despite its length and difficult!, and was responsible for bringing oucaulttoprominence as an intellectual figure in rance$

;he mid-19/'s saw the height of interest in <tructuralism, (which was set to topplethe &istentialism populariCed b! ean-"aul <artre), and oucault was:uic%l! grouped with scholars such as (ac2ues Lacan (19'1 - 1981), laude L#vi-!trauss (19'8 - ) and .oland $arthes (1915 - 198') as one of the newest wa#e ofthin%ers, although he alwa!s re4ected the label of <tructuralism$

e was greatl! affected b! the student riots of Ha! 19/8 (both in rance and locall! in;unis), and returned to /aris in the fall of 19/8$ ?n the aftermath of the student riots(which contributed to the fall of the 5e Gaulle government in rance), a newe&perimental uni#ersit!, /aris 9<<<, was established in the 9incennes suburb of "aris,and the newl! radicali%ed oucault was appointed as the first head of its philosoph!

department in >ecember 19/8$ e appointed mostl! !oung leftist academics, suchas (udith 1iller  (1941 - ), whose radicalism pro#o%ed the Hinistr! of ducationto withdraw the departments accreditation$ oucault notoriousl! also Boined studentsin occupying administration buildings and fighting with police$

?n 19', he was elected to rances most prestigious academic bod!, the ollJge deFrance, as /rofessor of the *istory of !ystems of 3hought , a position he retaineduntil his death$ is partner >efert Boined a rench ultra-1aoist group, and oucaultsown political involvement increased still further, including his founding of the Grouped<nformation sur les /risons (G"rison ?nformation roupG), an organiCationestablished to #oice the concerns of prisoners, and man! protests on behalfof homosexuals and other marginali%ed groups$

?n the late 19's, political acti#ism in rance tailed off  with the disillusionment ofman! left wing militants, a number of whom bro%e with Har&ism to form the so-called ;ew /hilosophers, often citing oucault as their ma4or influence (a statusabout which oucault had mixed feelings)$ e continued to write, including the earl!#olumes of a si&-#olume proBect ",istoire de la se+ualit;"  ("The ,istor( ofSe+ualit(" ), which he was ne#er to complete$ oucault began to spend more time in

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 51/55

the 'nited !tates, at the 'niversity at $uffalo and especiall! at the 'niversity ofalifornia at $erkeley$ ?n 199, he made two tours of <ran, underta%ing e&tensi#e (andcontro#ersial) inter#iews with political protagonists in support of the new interimgo#ernment established there after the <ranian .evolution$

oucault died in "aris of an A<5!-related illness on 25 une 1984, at a time when littlewas %nown about the disease (the e#ent was conse:uentl! mired in controversy)$ ispartner, >efert became a prominent A<5! activist and the founding president of the first

 ?>< awareness organiCation in rance$ "rior to his death, oucaulthad destroyed most of his unpublished manuscripts and prohibited in his will thepublication of an!thing he might ha#e o#erloo%ed$

Work *ac% to ;op

oucaults first maBor boo% was "Folie et d;raison? ,istoire de la folie @ l8geclassi6ue"  in 19/1 (later published in nglish as"!adness and )nsanit(" ,

as "!adness and Ci1ilization"  and as ",istor( of !adness" ), which e&amined ideas,practices, institutions, art and literature relating to madness in estern histor!$

is "Les !ots et les choses? 0ne arch;ologie des sciences humaines"  ("The$rder of Things? An Archaeolog( of the ,uman Sciences" ), first published in 19//,posited that all periods of history ha#e possessed certain underl!ing conditions oftruth that constituted what was acceptable$ ;his was the boo% that brought oucaultto prominence as an intellectual figure in rance$

19/9s "Arch;ologie du Sa1oir"  ("The Archaeolog( of 7nowledge" ) was his maine&cursion into methodology and his anal!sis of the statement as the basic unit of

discourse$ ?t was the boo% which mainl! led to his identification with<tructuralism$ ?n195, oucaults "Sur1eiller et punir? .aissance de la prison"  ("Discipline andunish? The Birth of the rison" ) mar%ed his continuing politiciCation during the19's, and his particular focus on the rights of prisoners$

;hree #olumes of his ambitious ",istoire de la se+ualit;"  ("The ,istor( ofSe+ualit(" ) were published before oucaults death in 1984$ ;he first (and mostreferenced) #olume, "La 1olont; de sa1oir"  ("The -ill to 7nowledge" ), published in19/, focused primaril! on the last two centuries and the emergence of a science ofsexuality and of @biopower@ in the est as a wa! of managing groups of people$ ;hesecond two #olumes, "L8usage des plaisirs"  ("The 0se of leasure" ) and "Le souci

de soi" ("The Care of the Self" ) were first published in rench in 1984, and deal withthe role of se& in Greek and .oman anti2uity$ oucault3s idea that the bod! andse&ualit! are cultural constructs rather than natural phenomena made a significantcontribution to the feminist criti:ue of ssentialism$

;here has been much criticism of oucaults lax standards of scholarship,his historical inaccuracies and misrepresentationof facts, and his re4ection of the#alues and philosoph! associated with the )nlightenment while simultaneousl!

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 52/55

secretl!relying on them$ owe#er, the sheer #olume of citations in standard academic Bournals (in disciplines as diverse as philosoph!, art, histor!, anthropolog!, geograph!,archaeolog!, communication studies, public relations, rhetoric, cultural studies,linguistics, sociolog!, education, ps!cholog!, literar! theor!, feminism, :ueer theor!,management studies, the philosoph! of science, political science, urban design,

museum studies, and man! others) suggest that his influence has been profoundindeed$

(ac2ues 5errida (19' - 2''4) was a 2'th entur! Algerian-born Frenchphilosopher,best %nown as the founder  of the >econstructionism mo#ement in the 19/'s, and forhis profound impact on ontinental "hilosoph! and literary theoryin general$ edeliberatel! distanced himself  from the other philosophical mo#ements on the Frenchintellectual scene (e$g$ "henomenolog!,&istentialism, <tructuralism),

and denied that >econstructionism was a methodor school or doctrine of philosoph!of an! sort$

e was a prolific author  and became one of the most well known philosophers ofcontemporar! times$ is wor% was alwa!s highl! cerebral and @difficult@, and he hasoften been accused of pseudophilosophy, sophistry and deliberate obscurantism$

Life

ac:ues >errida (pronounced de-ri-DAH ) was born on 15 ul! 19' in the small townof )l-$iar  (now a suburb of lgiers) in Algeria, into a !ephardic (ewishfamil!, the third

of fi#e children$ e spent his earl! !ears in l-*iar, but at the age of 12 hewas dismissed from his l!cOe b! rench administrators implementing anti-!emitic2uotas set b! the @ich! go#ernment, and he chose to s%ip school rather than attend theewish l!cOe which arose$

or a while, he dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player , and too% part innumerous competitions, but in his later teens he also started to read philosophers andwriters such as ean-ac:ues +ousseau, riedrich .ietCsche, Albert amus(191 -19/') and Andr# Gide (18/9 - 1951) and began to think seriously about philosoph!$

e became a boarding student at the Lyc#e Louis-le-Grand in /aris and, after failing

his entrance e&amination twice, he was admitted to the prestigious Hcole ;ormale!up#rieure (where ean-"aul <artre, !imone de $eauvoir  and man! other Frenchintellectuals and academics began their careers) in 1952$ ;here, he became friendswith the Har&ist philosopher Louis Althusser  (1918 - 199') and with the philosopherand critic Hichel oucault, whose lectures he attended$ e alsostudied egelunder (ean *yppolite (19' - 19/8)$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 53/55

e completed his philosoph! dissertation on dmund usserl and was offered a placeat *arvard 'niversity and mo#ed to the'nited !tates$ ?n une 195, hemarried 1arguerite Aucouturier  in *oston, and the! were to ha#e twosons, /ierre (19/) and(ean (19/)$ e was called up for military service duringthe Algerian War of <ndependence in 195, but elected to teachsoldiers children for

two !ears in lieu$?n the earl! 19/'s, >errida began a long association with "Tel /uel" , a "aris-basedleftist avant-garde 4ournal for literature and philosoph!, strongl! influencedb! .ietCsche$ e taught philosoph! at the !orbonne from 19/' to 19/4, and atthe Hcole ;ormale !uperieure from 19/4 to 1984$ ?n 19/, >errida published his firstthree boo%s, which would ma%e his nameF "-riting and Difference" , "Speech andhenomena"  and "$f Grammatolog("  (the latter remains his most famous wor%)$<tarting in 192, >errida produced on a#erage more than a book per year , sometimese&perimenting with non-traditional st!les of writing$ e carried on a se:uenceof encounters with proponents of nal!tic "hilosoph! such as (: L: Austin (1911 -

19/') and (ohn !earle (192 - )$e travelled widely and held a series of #isiting and permanent positions, including asdirector of studies at the Hcole des hautes #tudes en sciences sociales in "aris (hehad a third son, 5aniel, in 1984 b! !ylviane Agacinski, a professor at the <<) andas the first president of the ollJge international de philosophie, which he co-founded in 198 with FranMois hNtelet (1925 - 1985) and others$ e became"rofessor of the umanities at the 'niversity of alifornia8 <rvine in 198/, and was aregular visiting professor  at se#eral other maBor merican uni#ersities,including (ohns *opkins 'niversity, ale 'niversity, ;ew ork 'niversity andthe ;ew !chool for !ocial .esearch$ e was awarded honorary doctorates b!

#arious merican, *ritish and uropean uni#ersities, and appeared in a self-title biographical documentary in 2''2$

>errida had alwa!s been in#ol#ed in #arious (generall! leftist) political causes,including support for the /arisian student protesters in 19/8, denouncement ofthe 9ietnam War , cultural acti#ities against the apartheid go#ernment of <outh fricaand on behalf of ;elson 1andela in the 198's, support for /alestinian liberation,protests against the death penalty and opposition to the 2'' invasion of <ra2$

?n 2'', >errida was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer , and he reduced his wor%loadsignificantl!$ e died in a "arisian hospital on 8 Dctober 2''4$

Work *ac% to ;op

>erridas initial work in philosoph! was largel! phenomenological, and his earlytraining as a philosopher was done largel! through the lens of dmund usserl$ Dtherimportant inspirations on his earl! thought include riedrich .ietCsche, Hartineidegger , the <wiss linguist Ferdinand de !aussure (185 - 191), the Lithuanian-

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 54/55

rench philosoher )mmanuel L#vinas(19'/ - 1995) and the ustrianps!choanal!st !igmund Freud (185/ - 199)$

e soon started to e&press a dissatisfaction withboth "henomenolog! and <tructuralism (the other main mo#ement of the period),

finding them limiting and o#erl! simplistic$ fter his 19// lecture, "Structure> Sign andla( in the Discourse of the ,uman Science" , >errida found himself identified asa key figure in the earl! "ost-<tructuralist mo#ement, and was one of the first topropose some theoretical limitations to <tructuralism, e pointed to an apparent de-stabili%ing or de-centring in intellectual life (referring to the displacement ofthe author  of a te&t as ha#ing greatest effect on a te&t itself, in fa#our of the#arious readers of the te&t), which came to be %nown as "ost-<tructuralism$

  preoccupation with language is apparent in much of >erridas earl! wor%, especiall!in his ground-brea%ing "$f Grammatolog("  of 19/, and he especiall! as%edthe 2uestions Ghat is meaningKG and Ghere does meaning come fromKG e

argued that the whole philosophical tradition rests on arbitrar! dichotomouscategories (e$g$ sacredNprofane, signNsignifier, mindNbod!, etc), and he referred to hisprocedure for uncovering and unsettling these dichotomies as@deconstruction@$

?n #er! simplistic terms, >econstructionism (or sometimes Bust 5econstruction) is atheor! of literary criticism that :uestionstraditional assumptions about certaint!,identit!, and truth$ ?t asserts that words can onl! refer to other words, and attempts todemonstrate how statements about an! te&t subvert their own meanings$ >erridasparticular methods of textual criticismin#ol#ed disco#ering, recogniCing andunderstanding the underlying assumptions (unspo%en andimplicit), ideas andframeworks that form the basis for thought and belief $ >errida

himself denied that it was a method or school or doctrine of philosoph! (or indeedan!thing outside of reading the text itself)$

?n the mid-198's, >errida began teaching on the relationship between philosoph!and .ationalism, and published "$f Spirit? ,eidegger and the/uestion"  on eidegger s .ationalism in 198$ is wor% too% an e#en more @politicalturn@ around 1994, heralded b! the publication of "Spectres of !ar+"  (professing hisfaith in a deconstructed Har&ism), and arguabl! an @ethical turn@ with wor%s suchas "The Gift of Death"  of 1995$

>erridas wor% was alwa!s highl! cerebral and @difficult@$ "roponents of nal!ticphilosoph!, such as $ @$ D$ Juine, (: L: Austin (1911 - 19/') and (ohn !earle (192- ), repeatedl! accused >errida of pseudophilosophy and sophistry, and e#en hisrench contemporar! Hichel oucault accused him of "obscurantismeterroriste"  (Gterrorist obscurantismG)$ .o less an intellectual and linguist than ;oamhomsky (1928 - ) admitted to not understanding >erridas wor%, and denouncedhis@pretentious rhetoric@ and @intentional obfuscation@$ Dther accusations are of ane&treme <%epticism and <olipsism, #erging on .ihilism, that effecti#el! denies thepossibility of %nowledge and meaning$

7/24/2019 kennedy baboy.docx

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kennedy-baboydocx 55/55