Page 115 - Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Language

On what may be called the traditional view, a state- ment is analytic if it is true solely in virtue of the meanings of the expressions it contains. For example, A triangle is a three-sided figure is analytic because true in virtue of the meanings of the expressions tri- angle and three-sided figure. Much controversy, however, surrounds the concept of analyticity, which has had a prominent role in philosophy since the time of Kant, particularly in connection with topics in the theory of knowledge and the theory of meaning. This article deals first with the traditional view and its ramifications and then considers criticisms of the notion of analyticity deriving from the work of W. V. O. Quine.
1. The Traditional View
The familiar way of defining analyticity given above raises a question about the bearers of truth-values. In the sense intended here statements are declarative sentences in a particular language. It may be wondered whether statements as opposed to what they express are properly regarded as being either true or false. Even so, it is clear that statements may express truths. The statement A triangle is a three-sided figure may count as analytic insofar as the meanings of its con- stituent expressions guarantee that it expresses a truth. By contrast, Tom drew a triangle on a sheet of paper is not analytic (following Kantian terminology it would be called a synthetic statement) because the meanings of its constituent expressions do not guarantee that it expresses a truth. Whether the statement is true or not depends upon what Tom did and not just on the meanings of the relevant expressions. Thus far ana- lyticity has been taken to apply to statements con- ceived as a kind of sentence. Yet the term may also be used of what statements express. The analytic state- ment A garage is a place for storing or repairing motor vehicles is a sentence of the English language express- ing the proposition that a garage is a place for storing or repairing motor vehicles. This same proposition may be expressed in languages other than English provided they have expressions which express the
same concepts and thus have the same meanings as the expressions of which the English sentence is com- posed. Moreover, the proposition in question may be said to be analytic in that it is true in virtue of its constituent concepts, these being the concepts ex- pressed by the English expressions garage and place
for storing or repairing motor vehicles.
In the light of the preceeding account it comes as no surprise that analyticity, conceived as truth in virtue of meanings, should be thought to explicate the concept of necessity, conceived as truth in all possible worlds. Suppose that the statement A triangle is a three-sided
figure expresses a truth (a true proposition) in virtue of the meanings of the relevant constituent expressions. Then the truth of the proposition expressed is in no way dependent on facts about the actual world. No matter what the world is or might have been the prop- osition in question would remain true and that is what is captured by the claim that it is true in all possible worlds.
2. The Philosophical Significance of the Traditional View
The concept of analyticity offers a solution to a diffi- culty in empiricist theory of knowledge. In its classical version empiricism holds that all knowledge in some sense derives from experience. However, it is plausible to suppose that we know some things a priori, that is to say, independently of experience. At any rate it seems that we can know that a triangle is a three-sided figure or even that the angles of a triangle add up to 180° without having empirical grounds for accepting these propositions. In the first of these cases it is tempt- ing to regard the proposition in question as self-evi- dent—we just see that it is true. In the second case it seems that we can prove that the proposition is true from propositions which are self-evident.
The traditional view yields an account of how we can have a priori knowledge. The propositions which we can know a priori are analytic. If a proposition is self-evident the knowledge that it is true is guaranteed by a grasp of its constituent concepts. If we fail to see
SECTION IV
Truth and Meaning
Analyticity A. Millar
93