Mill's Philosophy of Language

Abstract

The present chapter describes Mill's account of language and the wider goals that he sets for his account, such as its relation to logic and reasoning. While the main purpose of the chapter is expository, it also engages with the common perception among philosophers of language that Mill's views of language are outdated, apart, possibly, from his purely denotative account of proper names. By focusing on Mill's view of names as well as propositions, including his conflation of predication and assertion, his struggles with the import of identity proposition, and his attempts to distinguish real from verbal propositions, the chapter argues that Mill's struggles often mirror struggles that still affect 21st century philosophy of language.