Meaning and Truth in the Development of Analytic Philosophy

Abstract

This paper deals with the interaction between truth and meaning, and the implications for development of analytic philosophy. The recent turn in analytic philosophy away from the linguistic conception of philosophy and toward a more broadly based, "post-positivistic" philosophy is seen as the consequence of the problems inherent in the thesis of priority of meaning over truth, which lies at the heart of linguistic philosophy. The process of reversal in this order of priority is described by analyzing the salient views of Tarski, Quine, Devitt, and Davidson.