Analysis of Analysis

Abstract

Kinds of analysis proliferate. The paradigm of analysis is mathematics; Newton spoke of scientific analysis; chemical analysis is a paradigm for that; psychologists speak of analyses; social scientists follow suit; linguists offer discourse analyses; critical analyses of Shakespeare’s sonnets are also familiar. The analysis nearest to, or identical with, Wittgenstein-style philosophy, is the most famous case in the field of foundations of mathematics: Russell’s 1905 view on definite descriptions. It has never left the agenda of analytic philosophy (Pelletier FJ, Linsky B: Russell vs. Frege on definite descriptions as singular terms. Griffin and Jacquette (eds), pp 40–64, 2009, conclusion). That explains his having found the discovery that language includes non-descriptive items downright silly.