Dummett on Analytical Philosophy

Few would contest the fact that analytical philosophy has dominated philosophical practice in the English speaking world for about the last century. But dispute continues about both its origins and nature; whilst others question its value. Michael Dummett wholly embraced the analytical approach to philosophy, as he conceived of it. For him analytical philosophy marked itself off from its precursors and its alternatives, embodied in the Continental tradition, by taking the linguistic turn. And Frege was unequivocally the first philosopher to take that auspicious turn, which ushered in a new method in philosophy. Henceforth philosophers were to approach the business of analyzing thought via the enterprise of analyzing language. So Dummett is presenting us with both a history lesson and a recommendation about how we ought to do philosophy. But is his reading of the history accurate? And is his conception of the nature of analytical philosophy viable? In order to reflect on these questions this collection brings together eight scholars who have made a serious business of reading Dummett.

Bernhard Weiss is Professor of philosophy at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of Understanding Language (2010) and Michael Dummett (2002); and co-editor of Reading Brandom with Jeremy Wanderer (2010) and Wittgenstein's Lasting Significance with Max Kölbel (2004).

1. 'The Logical Basis of Metaphysics'; Adrian Moore  
2. 'Seeking the Logical Basis of Metaphysics'; Cora Diamond
3. 'How Rare is Chairman Mao? Dummett, Frege, and the Austere Conception of Nonsense'; Sanford Shieh
4. 'Making Knowledge of Meaning Explicit'; Bernhard Weiss
5. 'Frege on that-clauses'; Wolfgang Kunne
6. 'Dummett on Frege on Functions'; Karen Green
7. 'Meaning and Dummett's Austrians'; Peter Simons  
8. 'Dummett and the Frege-Husserl Debate on Number'; George Duke