The Analytic Tradition

Examination of the key figures in the development of analytic philosophy: Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and A. J. Ayer. Topics include: Frege’s distinctions between sense and reference, concept and object; Russell’s logical atomism and theory of descriptions; the early Wittgenstein’s picture theory of meaning; and Ayer’s verificationism with its notorious implications. Concludes with an examination of Kripke’s revival of essentialism. Prerequisites: PHIL 171, 201, 370