PHIL305

Early analytic philosophers were frustrated by philosophical disputes that they perceived as hopelessly obscure and unclear. They aimed to radically reshape philosophy by grounding it in science, logic, or ordinary language. We will aim to understand these attempts by thinking through the following questions. Are you ever justified in believing a philosophical claim that contradicts common sense? Is Sherlock Holmes "real"? Are numbers real? Where are they? What is truth? How should we evaluate claims - like those of math, logic, or ethics - that don't seem to depend on science for their truth? Are all philosophical disputes ultimately just linguistic disagreements? As we think through these questions, we will come to understand the driving forces that shaped analytic philosophy as we understand it today.