Introduction to Contemporary Anglo-American Philosophy (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Nicholas et al. (British editor-in-chief: Yan Hongyuan, Chinese editor-in-chief: Han Minqing)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: This book is a collaborative effort between scholars from China and the UK. It is primarily written by dozens of renowned philosophers from the UK and the US, and also includes research papers on Anglo-American philosophy by Chinese scholars. To make the theme of this chapter clear, we can simply say that the philosophy of language is a part of philosophy that concerns linguistic issues. However, this statement is overly broad when it comes to this research field. To better explain what the philosophy of language is, we first need to draw a line. Everyone has ideas about language, using general everyday concepts about what language is and how to use it. Some people, such as theoretical linguists, conduct scientific research on language, forming more specialized understandings of language and its use. After distinguishing between everyday and scientific concepts of language, we can say that the philosophy of language studies the problems that arise from our ordinary everyday concepts. The philosophy of linguistics studies the problems that arise in the field of linguistic science. Therefore, the difference between the philosophy of language and the philosophy of linguistics is similar to that between the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of psychology. However, this still does not provide a clear concept that allows us to understand the unique problems of the philosophy of language. Wittgenstein (1953, p. 119) said: "The role of philosophy is to reveal how certain obvious nonsense or the cry of a nightingale inexplicably breaks through the limits of language and achieves understanding." From this perspective, it is very easy to see that almost all philosophy involves problems related to language: how we correctly or incorrectly understand language, how we mistakenly believe that obvious nonsense is cognizable, and things that cannot be expressed by language, etc. However, despite the surge of language in 20th-century philosophy, the philosophy of language still has its own unique, identifiable area of research. One easy way to point this out is to say that it stems from an absolutely fundamental fact: that language expressions are meaningful and can be used to talk about various things in the world. For the philosophy of language, the basic object of its study is the meaning of language. This chapter introduces some of the methods used in this research. Readers may also refer to related chapters: the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of logic, Frege and Russell, and Wittgenstein, etc.
Legal philosophy stands at the intersection of many issues. These issues involve the relationship between law and morality, the logical attributes of legal propositions (descriptive or prescriptive), the possibility of judicial independence from politics, and the distinction between law and organized force (organized force). Legal positivists maintain the moral neutrality of the concept of law, arguing that legal systems are sets of artificial rules that are clear and precise according to certain specific standards. In contrast, traditional natural law theory appeals to the roots of law—justice and public welfare. Modern legal debates often revolve around judicial procedures, with the being, how should judges set boundaries when judging appropriately according to individual moral criteria, and to what extent are they constrained by the application of professional regulations? Most people generally believe that law is merely a series of measures taken by the government to