语言学理论的哲学相关性考察

Exploration of the Philosophical Relevance of Linguistic Theory

哲学对语言学有帮助,是哲学界与语言学界都基本同意的观点,但反之却不然。语言学是否能够帮助哲学,在哪些方面能够帮助哲学等都颇有争议。有一些哲学家,如卡维尔,认为作为经验科学的语言学的研究成果对哲学分析与哲学问题的解决毫无裨益,而以万德勒与卡茨为代表的学者则相信语言学所提供的关于语言结构的描述以及对语言学共相的探索是哲学洞见的丰富源泉。本文通过对这些研究者的意见与看法的分析来尝试回答语言学对哲学研究是否有帮助的问题。

It is widely acknowledged in both philosophical and linguistic circles that philosophy is beneficial to linguistics, but not vice versa. It remains controversial whether linguistics can help philosophy, or in what ways. Some philosophers, like Cavell, believe that the findings of linguistics, an empirical science, bear no relevance upon philosophical analysis or the solution to philosophical problems ; but scholars, such as Vendler and Katz, are convinced that the description of the structure of language and the exploration of linguistic universals conducted by linguists are useful resources for philosophical investigations. By analyzing the viewpoints of these researchers this paper attempts to find out whether linguistics is of help to philosophy.