Analytical philosophy as part of Western culture of the 20th century

Analytical philosophy is a new philosophical trend that originated in the early 20th century in Western countries, implying rigor in the use of certain terminology, focusing on the process of argumentation, distrust of speculative reasoning. This type of thinking was particularly widespread in countries such as England, Australia, and the United States. In the Russian literature, the analytical trend in philosophy appeared relatively recently, only in the 80s of the twentieth century.

The founders of this philosophical trend are believed to be George Moore and Bertrand Russell, its ideological inspiration - the author of the well-known "Logico-philosophical treatise" Ludwig Wittgenstein.

The three main features of analytical philosophy are:

• Linguistic reductionism, consisting in the reduction of all existing problems of philosophy to the problems of language;
• Methodological bias, which implies the opposition of the analytical method to all the currents of philosophical thought that existed before the 20th century;
• Semantic emphasis, that is, focus on the problem of meaning.

Analytical philosophy of the 20th century is primarily a philosophy of language. Misunderstanding due to language imperfections, the ambiguity of expressions and word forms, according to analysts - followers of the new philosophical outlook, are the main reason for the emergence and development of the "old" philosophy. According to Wittgenstein, the main task of philosophy is to build a language that is ideal in terms of understanding, which would help to resolve the philosophical debates that have developed over the centuries for consciousness and being, ethics and freedom of will. That is why analytical philosophy at the stage of its origin was reduced to the formalization of the language and the perfection of its logical symbols. The solution to this problem was done by the followers of Wittgenstein: Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, Moritz Schlick. It should be noted that the idea of bringing the language to its perfection very quickly exhausted itself, and philosophers recognized that the existence of a perfect language, although permissible, is not always expedient. For example, a strict mathematical language is unacceptable in everyday communication, and even more so when writing unscientific fiction, especially poetry.

The thirties of the 20th century are considered a turning point in analytical philosophical science. It was at this time that Ludwig Wittgenstein returned from voluntary exile (for 6 years he worked for ordinary rural teachers in the Alps) to Cambridge. Here around him a circle of young followers of the theory of analytical thinking quickly formed . New ideas were embodied in a book called "Philosophical Studies". This work was the final work of the life of the philosopher, he worked on it until his death in 1951.

Its further development of analytical philosophy was in the writings of Gilbert Ryle, the author of "Philosophical arguments", "Categories" and many others. The main problem raised by the author in his books is the simple question: "What makes the philosophical question philosophical?" The answer lies in the fact that the main purpose of philosophy as a science is to "unravel" categorical errors and some kind of intellectual knots. The resulting misunderstandings can be resolved through the allocation of different logical categories of concepts and terms.

Analytical philosophy and its ideas have had a significant impact on the development of philosophy in general in many countries around the world. Over time, this trend of philosophical thought has turned into a broad cultural trend, the main positions of which are still strong in many English-speaking countries.