The constructivist conception of language and its functions in science
The main task of this thesis is to contrast two philosophical conceptions of 'language-and-its-functions' in science. The first, which I call the dualist conception, has dominated history and philosophy of science. There are two constituents of dualism: the disjunction of 'language' and 'world' (the latter term encompassing the supposed non-linguistic subject matter of science); and the assumption that the philosophically primary function of language in science is to be 'about' the world (thus language may be 'about' - or fail to be about - mind-dependent phenomena or mind-independent facts, depending on how a dualist conceives the world). In Part 1 I examine a wide spectrum of formulations of the dualist conception and show that it has influenced philosophers of science of almost every persuasion. I argue that language/world dualism has been presupposed without justification, and (besides being implausible) has remained ill-developed as a philosophical thesis. At the end of Part 1, I look at a body of medical publications from the early nineteenth century that are evidence of a crisis in the use of the 'formal' language of medicine - here language appears to be plainly differentiated from the subject matter
Zahar, Alexander
Philosophy
The constructivist conception of language and its functions in science. The main task of this thesis is to contrast two philosophical conceptions of 'language-and-its-functions' in science. The first, which I call the dualist conception, has dominated history and philosophy of science. There are two constituents of dualism: the disjunction of 'language' and 'world' (the latter term encompassing the supposed non-linguistic subject matter of science); and the assumption that the philosophically primary function of language in science is to be 'about' the world (thus language may be 'about' - or fail to be about - mind-dependent phenomena or mind-independent facts, depending on how a dualist conceives the world). In Part 1 I examine a wide spectrum of formulations of the dualist conception and show that it has influenced philosophers of science of almost every persuasion. I argue that language/world dualism has been presupposed without justification, and (besides being implausible) has remained ill-developed as a philosophical thesis. At the end of Part 1, I look at a body of medical publications from the early nineteenth century that are evidence of a crisis in the use of the 'formal' language of medicine - here language appears to be plainly differentiated from the subject matter
constructivist conception language function science main task contrast philosophical conception language and functions science first call dualist conception dominate history_philosophy science constituent dualism disjunction language world latter term encompass suppose non_linguistic subject_matter science assumption philosophically primary_function language science about world thus language may about fail mind dependent phenomena mind_independent fact depend dualist conceives world part_examine wide spectrum formulation dualist conception show influence philosopher science almost_every persuasion argue language world dualism presuppose without justification besides implausible remain ill developed philosophical thesis end part_look body medical publication evidence crisis use formal_language medicine language appear differentiate subject_matter