In this article, we consider several responses to Wittgenstein’s private language argument (
PLA
) beginning with A.J. Ayer’s “Robinson Crusoe” thought experiment from his 1954 symposium with Rush Rhees. While I’ll claim that Ayer’s response is unsound and doesn’t imperil a properly understood version of the
PLA
, it does point towards more enduring concerns. Even if private language is impossible, the
PLA
may not preclude the possibility of “solitary” speakers –isolated individuals who are the sole speakers of languages they develop, even though others could later learn these languages. I present an analysis of these problems as a trilemma for defenders of the
PLA
and offer a response that suggests some ways to defuse it.
Abstract This article argues that the approach to political theory articulated by Shmuel Nili’s Philosophizing the Indefensible needs to be modified to address non-ideal political circumstances in illiberal political societies in deep conflict. Building on Nili’s analysis of Israeli politics as a paradigmatic example,...
L. Erez· Moral Philosophy and Politic...· 0 citations
In my (2020) I defended an intentionalist understanding of Chomskyan linguistics whereby standard linguistic entities (“SLEs”) such as words, phrases and phonemes don’t exist, but are “intentional inexistents” merely represented in our brains. Reviewers complained this was in tension with “externalist” theories of re...
In this paper, we critically examine the essay by Shiffrin, Stigler, and Keil (2026) on scientific understanding. We argue that, despite its uncontroversial moral message, the paper largely fails to articulate a compelling thesis. The central notion of an “illusion of understanding” is left insufficiently specified and...
David Kellen, M. S. Spektor· Computational Brain & Behavi...· 0 citations
Blake Roeber’s
Political Humility
is a wonderful piece of work; it’s clear and accessible enough that I’d expect a general educated audience with no philosophical background to profitably read all but the last two chapters (which get more into the epistemological weeds than the earlier parts of the book), while sti...
Daniel Greco· Canadian Journal of Philosop...· 0 citations
Abstract:This essay takes its point of departure in Jacques Derrida’s contribution to a colloquium on “nuclear criticism,” published in Diacritics in 1984. Today the threat of nuclear war again looms, and the need to analyze the discourse and rhetoric surrounding it is just as great as in 1984. Drawing on Derrida’s nuc...
Abstract This paper argues that the standard account of Darwin’s influence on Vaihinger is more problematic than it seems. The argument is divided into three parts. First, I analyze the way in which Vaihinger engages with Darwin and explain why this undermines the assumption that the theory of natural selection can hel...
Chiara Russo Krauss· Kant-Studien· 0 citations
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