Philosophy of Language

The philosophy of language, though recently grown due to the influence of analytic philosophy (a branch of philosophy characterized by using tools of logic in arguments, such as mathematics) which deals heavily with the intersection between language, its speakers and the effect the two have on the wider world, the term has been around for a long time. The term ‘philosophy of language’ relies heavily on the field of linguistics, though it takes on an conceptual, vague method of investigation that is at odds with the straightforwardness of linguistics (I.e. linguistics is a scientific field and the philosophy of language is, well, not scientific but theoretical). The term can be applied to the writings of Greek philosopher Cratylus, who felt there was a lack in the connection between words and their meaning: for words, apart from perhaps words that are onomatopoeic, have no inherent association with their meaning, no real value. The Greek Sophist faction, Plato’s famed opponents, upheld the idea that the only value words held was to influence other people in the political sphere. Plato himself felt that the only way words were able to help humans understand the world was through a hidden way in which meaning and word were connected. The term “philosophy of language” can be broken into two distinct divisions: the first one deals with ideas about what it means to have a language, how language equates to understanding, and how certain cultural languages can communicate and interpret different ideas about the same thing. The second section, using semantics or a branch of linguistic study, examines the relationship between a language and the world in which it exists, and issues often arise from how effectively said language portrays the truth. Many times language is clouded with certain lens tainted by culture and religious belief, which muddles reality - and so it is the goal of this field to really work through those challenges.