The Linguistic Turn provides a rich and representative introduction to the entire historical and doctrinal range of the linguistic philosophy movement. In two retrospective essays titled "Ten Years After" and "Twenty-Five Years After," Rorty shows how his book was shaped by the time in which it was written and traces the directions philosophical study has taken since.

CONTENTS:

Introduction
Richard M. Rorty - Metaphysical Difficulties of Linguistic Philosophy

Part I - Classic Statements of the Thesis That Philosophical Questions Are Questions of Language
1. Moritz Schlick - The Future of Philosophy
2. Rudolf Carnap - On the Character of Philosophical Problems
3. Gustav Bergmann - Logical Positivism, Language, and the Reconstruction of Metaphysics (in part)
4. Rudolf Carnap - Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology
5. Gilbert Ryle - Systematically Misleading Expressions
6. John Wisdom - Philosophical Perplexity
7. Norman Malcolm - Moore and Ordinary Language

Part II - Metaphilosophical Problems of Ideal-Language Philosophy
8a. Irving Copi - Language Analysis and Metaphysical Inquiry
8b. Gustav Bergmann - Two Criteria for an Ideal Language
8c. Irving Copi - Reply to Bergmann
9. Max Black - Russell’s Philosophy of Language (in part)
10a. Alice Ambrose - Linguistic Approaches to Philosophical Problems
10b. Roderick Chisholm Comments on the "Proposal Theory" of Philosophy
11. James W. Cornman - Language and Ontology
12. Willard v. O. Quine - Semantic Ascent (from Word and Object)

Part III - Metaphilosophical Problems of Ordinary-Language Philosophy
13. Roderick Chisholm - Philosophers and Ordinary Language
14. John Passmore - Arguments to Meaninglessness: Excluded Opposites and Paradigm Cases (from Philosophical Reasoning)
15a. Grover Maxwell and Herbert Feigl - Why Ordinary Language Needs Reforming
15b. Manley Thompson - When Is Ordinary Language Reformed?
16a. Richard Hare - Philosophical Discoveries
16b. Paul Henle - Do We Discover Our Uses of Words?
17. Peter Geach - Ascriptivism
18. James W. Cornman - Uses of Language and Philosophical Problems
19. J. O. Urmson - J. L. Austin
20a. Stuart Hampshire - J. L. Austin
20b. J. O. Urmson and G. Warnock - J. L. Austin
20c. Stanley Cavell - Austin at Criticism
21. Stuart Hampshire - The Interpretation of Language; Words and Concepts

Part IV - Recapitulations, Reconsiderations, and Future Prospects
22. Dudley Shapere - Philosophy and the Analysis of Language
23. Stuart Hampshire - Are All Philosophical Questions Questions of Language?
24a. J. O. Urmson - The History of Analysis
24b. Discussion of Urmson’s "The History of Analysis" (by the participants in the 1961 Royaumont Colloquium)
25a. P. F. Strawson - Analysis, Science, and Metaphysics
25b. Discussion of Strawson’s "Analysis, Science and Metaphysics" (by the participants in the 1961 Royaumont Colloquium)
26. Max Black - Language and Reality
27. Jerrold J. Katz - The Philosophical Relevance of Linguistic Theory
28. Yehoshua Bar-Hillel - A Pre-Requisite for Rational Philosophical Discussion

Two Retrospective Essays by Richard M. Rorty
Ten Years After
Twenty-five Years After

Bibliography

EDITOR:

Richard Rorty (1931-2007) was one of the world’s most influential cultural philosophers. During the course of his academic career he taught at Wellesley College, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Stanford University.