Lu Wang

Research into logical syntax provides us the knowledge of the structure of sentences, while logical semantics provides a window into uncovering the truth of sentences. Therefore, it is natural to make sentences and truth the central concern when one deals with the theory of meaning logically. Although their theories of meaning differ greatly, both Michael Dummett’s theory and Donald Davidson’s theory are concerned with sentences and truth and developed in terms of truth. Logical theories and methods first introduced by G. Frege underwent great developments during the past century and have played an important role in expanding these two scholars’ theories of meaning.

The Linguistic Turn had a great impact and brought about global changes in the objects, methods, and styles of many twentieth-century philosophical works. However, a considerable number of Chinese scholars and philosophers nowadays think that the Linguistic Turn has already passed. Some of them are even of the opinion that the immediate products of the Linguistic Turn, such as analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language, are by now outdated. In their view, this is an inevitable consequence of the Linguistic Turn, as this revolutionary change in philosophy was based on the inherently limited methods of mathematical logic: structural methods and greatly restricted methods of language analysis. Therefore, analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language could never resolve basic philosophical and, especially, metaphysical questions.