Almost every philosophical debate starts with or leads to a general frustration about the problems and limitations of language in philosophical discussions.
In my talk I hope to show that the work done by philologists, psychologists and academics in related disciplines is relevant and useful to the philosopher of language searching for answers to questions such as:
- What is “language” as distinct from “a language”?
- Is language a property of the human brain or it did it evolve?
- How does human language differ from the language of mathematics and what properties does it have in common?
- Is language rather than rationality the defining quality of a human being?
I want then to investigate the limits of language in dealing with the questions asked by philosophers. Are there indeed “things about which we cannot speak”? I will focus on the problem of linking the concepts of morality and “the good” to statements of fact. Do words like “good” “justice” “Duty” and “God” require a different grammar – or even a different form of language?