Analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is a broad school of thought or style in contemporary Western philosophy, especially anglophone philosophy, with an emphasis on analysis, clear prose, rigorous arguments, formal logic, mathematics, and the natural sciences (with less emphasis on the humanities). It is further characterized by the linguistic turn, or a concern with language and meaning.

Analytic philosophy is often contrasted with continental philosophy, a catch-all term for other methods prominent in continental Europe, most notably existentialism, phenomenology, and Hegelianism. The distinction has also been drawn between "analytic" being academic or technical philosophy and "continental" being literary philosophy.

The proliferation of analytic philosophy began around the turn of the twentieth century and has been dominant since the second half of the century. Central figures in its history include Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Other important figures include Franz Brentano, the logical positivists (especially Rudolf Carnap), and the ordinary language philosophers.

Wilfrid Sellars, W. V. O. Quine, Saul Kripke, David Lewis, and others, led a decline of logical positivism and a subsequent revival in metaphysics. Analytic philosophy has also developed several new branches of philosophy and logic, notably philosophy of language, mathematics, and science, and modern predicate and mathematical logic.


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