"(De)parting from the ways"
Quentin Skinner's linguistic contextualism as challenge to contemporary philosophy's "Parting of Ways" concept
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/2764-0892.2024.v2.n2.e66500Keywords:
Contextualism, Parting of ways, Quentin Skinner, MetaphilosophyAbstract
This paper explores Quentin Skinner's historiographical thesis, named linguistic contextualism, as a potential challenge to the dichotomy in contemporary philosophy between the ‘analytical’ and ‘continental’ traditions. This divide, rooted in differing approaches to language and methodology, has led to labeling and categorizing philosophers into these two areas. However, Skinner’s work, drawing on the ideas of R.G. Collingwood, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and John L. Austin, presents a nuanced view that defies easy classification. By emphasizing the importance of historical context and the ways language shapes philosophical inquiry, Skinner’s thesis blurs the boundaries between analytical and continental philosophy. We examine Skinner’s arguments and their implications for the ‘parting of ways’ concept, suggesting that linguistic contextualism challenges the validity of this dichotomy. Ultimately, it argues for the inclusion of linguistic contextualism as a significant alternative within contemporary philosophical discourse, particularly in discussions about metaphilosophy and the limitations of rigid categorizations.
References
AUSTIN, John L. A Plea for Excuses: The Presidential Address. In: AUSTIN, John L.; URMSON, J. O.; WARNOCK, G. J. (ed.). Philosophical Papers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979 [1957]. p. 175-204.
AUSTIN, John L. How to do things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962.
BRANDOM, Robert. Tales of the Mighty Dead: historical essays in metaphysics of intentionality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
BROWNING, Gary. A History of Modern Political Thought: The Question of Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. p. 48.
COLLINGWOOD, R. G. An Autobiography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939.
COLLINGWOOD, R. G. An Essay on Philosophical Method. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005 [1933].
COLLINGWOOD, R. G. The Idea of History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946.
DAVIDSON, Donald. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.
DELLA ROCCA, Michael. Interpreting Spinoza: The Real is the Rational. Journal of the History of Philosophy, v. 53 n. 3, p. 523-535, 2015.
DELLA ROCCA, Michael. Spinoza. New York: Routledge, 2008.
D’ORO, Giuseppina; CONNELY, James. Robin George Collingwood. In: ZALTA, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition). Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/collingwood/.
DUNN, John. The Identity in the History of Ideas. Philosophy, v. XLIII, n. 164, p. 85-104, 1968.
EAGLETON, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. 2. ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1996. p. 47.
EILENBERGER, Wolfram. Time of Magicians: The Invention of Modern Thought, 1919-1929. Translated by Shaun Whiteside. London: Penguin, 2020.
EDMONDS, David. The murder of professor Schlick: the rise and fall of the Vienna Circle. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 2020.
FRIEDMAN, Michael. A Parting of Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger. Chicago, IL.: Open Court; Lassalle, 2000.
FORSTER, Michael N. German Philosophy of Language: From Schlegel to Hegel and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
GADAMER, Hans-Georg. Wahrheit und Methode: Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik. Mohr Siebeck Tübingen, 2010.
GARBER, Daniel. Some Additional (But Not Final) Words. Journal of the History of Philosophy, v. 53, n. 3, p. 537-539, 2015.
GARBER, Daniel. Superheroes in the History of Philosophy: Spinoza, Super-rationalist. Journal of the History of Philosophy, v. 53, n. 3, p. 507-521, 2015.
GRICE, H. P. Meaning. Philosophical Review, n. 16, p. 377-388, 1957.
GRICE, H. P. Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions. Philosophical Review, n. 78, p. 147-177, 1969.
KOSELLECK, Reinhart. Linguistic Change and the History of Events. Journal of Modern History, n. 61, p. 649-666, 1989.
KRISHNAN, Nikhil. A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford (1900-60). London: Profile Books, 2023.
LANE, Melissa. Doing Our Own Thinking for Ourselves: On Skinner’s Genealogical Turn. Journal of the History of Ideas, v. 73, n. 1, p. 71-82, jan. 2012.
LONGWORTH, Guy. John Langshaw Austin. In: ZALTA, Edward N.; NODELMAN, Uri. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/austin-jl/.
MERCER, Christia. The Contextualist Revolution in Early Modern Philosophy. Journal of the History of Philosophy, v. 57, n. 3, p. 529-548, 2019.
MONK, Ray. Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. London: Vintage, 1991.
MONK, Ray. How the untimely death of RG Collingwood changed the course of philosophy forever. Prospect, 5 set. 2019. Available at: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/philosophy/39183/how-the-untimely-death-of-rg-collingwood-changed-the-course-of-philosophy-forever.
OLIVEIRA, Manfredo Araújo de. Reviravolta lingüistico-pragmática na filosofia contemporânea. 3. ed. São Paulo: Loyola, 2006.
PALONEN, Kari. The History of Concepts as a Style of Political Theorizing: Quentin Skinner’s and Reinhart Koselleck’s Subversion of Normative Political Theory. European Journal of Political Theory, v. 1, n. 1, p. 91-106, 2002.
PERREAU-SAUSSINE, Emile. Quentin Skinner in Context. The Review of Politics, v. 69, n. 1, p. 106-122, Winter 2007.
PROOPS, Ian. Wittgenstein’s Logical Atomism. In: ZALTA, Edward N.; NODELMAN, Uri. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition). Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=wittgenstein-atomism.
QUINE, W. V. O. From a Logical Point of View. rev. edn. Cambridge, Mass. 1961. p. 37-46.
RECK, Erich H. (ed.). The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy. Basingstoke, Hampshire New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
RYLE, Gilbert. Autobiographical. In: WOOD, Oscar P.; PITCHER, George. (ed.). Ryle. London: Macmillan, 1970. p. 1-15.
SELLARS, Wilfrid. Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind. With an introduction by Richard Rorty and study guide by Robert Brandon. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997 [1956].
SELLARS, Wilfrid. Essays in Philosophy and Its History. D. Reidel: Dordrecht, 1975.
SILVA, Gabriel Ferreira da. The Historian of Philosophy as a “Portraitmaller”: A Brentanian Look on Contextualism-Appropriationsm debate. Síntese: Revista de Filosofia, Belo Horizonte, v. 49, n. 155, p. 559, sep./dec., 2022. Available at: https://www.faje.edu.br/periodicos/index.php/Sintese/article/view/5125.
SKINNER, Quentin. A reply to my critics. In: TULLY, James. (ed.). Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and his critics. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1988. p. 231-288.
SKINNER, Quentin. Conventions and the Understanding of Speech Acts. The Philosophical Quarterly, v. 20, n. 79, p. 118-138, 1970.
SKINNER, Quentin. Hermeneutics and the Role of History. New Literary History, v. 7, n. 1, p. 209-232, 1975.
SKINNER, Quentin. Liberty before liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
SKINNER, Quentin. Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas. History and Theory, v. 8, n. 3, p. 3-53, 1969.
SKINNER, Quentin. Motives, Intentions and the Interpretation of Texts. New Literary History, v. 3, n. 2, p. 393-408, 1972.
SKINNER, Quentin. Some Problems in the analysis of Political Thought and Action. Political Theory, v. 2, n. 3, p. 277-303, ago. 1974.
SKINNER, Quentin. The Limits of Historical Explanations. Philosophy, v. XLI, n. 157, p. 199-215, jul. 1966.
SKINNER, Quentin. Visions of Politics: Regarding Method. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. v. 1.
STRAWSON, P. F. Intention and Convention in Speech Acts. The Philosophical Review, n. 73, p. 439-460, 1964.
STRAWSON, P. F. The Bounds of Sense. London: Methuen, 1966.
TULLY, James. (ed.). Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and his Critics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988.
TWINING, William. R. G. Collingwood’s Autobiography: One Reader’s Response. Journal of Law and Society, v. 25, n. 4, p. 603-620, dec. 1998.
WILLIAMSON, Timothy. The Philosophy of Philosophy. 2nd. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.
WITTGENSTEN, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. 3. edn., with index. Translated by G. E. M. Ascombe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967.
WITTGENSTEN, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Translated by D. F. Pears e B. F. McGuinness. With an introduction by Bertrand Russell. 2. edn. London: Routledge, 2001 (Routledge Classics).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Geltung - Journal of Studies on the Origins of Contemporary Philosophy
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.