METAPHYSICS REGAINED
METAPHYSICS REGAINED

Summary/Abstract: The traditional theory of meaning equated it with denotation. As Boolean algebra introduced the empty class that is the class of mermaids as well as the class of square circles, and both nouns denote nothing and so are meaningless. Frege refuted the traditional theory of meaning and identified meaning with both sense and reference, and senses reside in Plato’s heaven. In his famous “On Denoting” of 1905 Russell tried to replace Frege’s theory of meaning with one that disposes of the Platonic Heaven. He called it the overcoming of metaphysics. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of 1922 declared that logic proves all expressions of metaphysics necessarily defective. Russell criticized Wittgenstein in his Introduction to that book. It was popular nonetheless for a few decades. Meanwhile Russell admitted defeat in his 1940 Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. The idea that Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein shared, of an idea language, was refuted by Tarski and is now passé. Unlike Russell, Wittgenstein and his heirs were unable to admit failure. Nevertheless, the general understanding in the analytic school of philosophy is that at least in its linguistic form, anti-metaphysics is at an end. Metaphysics can now return to play a role in the advancement of science.

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