The evolution of the analytic/synthetic distinction, over a period of more than
2000 years, provides an example of how progress in philosophy takes place and
of how that progress might be thought to contribute to progress for humanity.
This is one perspective on the story.
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An account of Hume's fork and its significance for his philosophy.
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A concise description of the necessary-analytic-a priori/contingent-synthetic-a posteriori distinction.
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Themes
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Progress in Philosophy
Is there progress in philosophy?
The story leading to Hume's fork can be presented as a tale of real advancement
in philosophy.
All the insights in that have now come to be questioned, and with those
questions the reality of that advancement must be questioned.
Is there progress?
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Dogmatism and Scepticism
Western Philosophy begins in dogmatic speculation, reaches its apogee in the
dogmatic systems of Plato and Aristotle, falls into scepticism and then
declines with the collapse of the Greek empire.
The creative intellectual freedom of ancient Greece is then replaced by an
extended period in which religious authority limits the advancement of
philosophy.
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Positivism
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Essentualism and Nominalism
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Rationalism and Empiricism
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The Fork
ALL the objects of human reason or enquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, Relations of Ideas, and Matters
of Fact.
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Three Dichotomies in Hume's Fork
Though not explicit, Hume's fork identifies the dichotomies we now talk about
as analytic/synthetic, necessary/contingent, a priori/a posteriori.
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Its Place in Hume's Philosophy
The importance of Hume's fork lies not only in its clear presentation, but in
its central place in Hume's philosophy.
It is the seed of Hume's scepticism, which provides a more precise delimitation
of the scope of deductive reason than had hitherto appeared.
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A bigger picture with Hume's fork at its epicentre.
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Introduction
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Early Greek Philosophy
An early approximation to Hume's fork may be found in Plato, and Aristotle's metaphysics may be seen as responding to some
of the weaknesses in Plato's system which are relevant to Hume's fork.
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Scepticism and Dogmatism
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Rationalism and Empiricism
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Introduction
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Kant
Kant dismantled the unity of the triple-dichotomy to make room once again for metaphysics.
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Frege and Russell
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Wittgenstein
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Carnap and Logical Positivism
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Quine on Analyticity
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Kripke's Essentialism
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Preliminaries
Context setting descriptions of the kind of language and semantics to which
these concepts are applicable.
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Necessary
A proposition is necessary if it is true in every possible world.
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A definition of analyticity is offered and its merits discussed.
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A Priori
We should expect an a priori justification for a necessary proposition
and an a posteriori justification for a contingent proposition.
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