4.7 Philosophy of Language

Twelve scatterplots showing which percentage of the articles in each journal in each year are in the category philosophy of language. A brief summary of the data follows. In an average year in Mind, 7.1% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Mind in 2005 when it accounts for 26.3% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1885 when it accounts for 0.6% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 7.0% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society in 1951 when it accounts for 17.3% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1909 when it accounts for 0.2% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Ethics, 2.0% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Ethics in 2013 when it accounts for 5.1% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1938 when it accounts for 0.3% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophical Review, 6.4% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Philosophical Review in 1996 when it accounts for 27.2% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1910 when it accounts for 0.2% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Analysis, 13.8% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Analysis in 1937 when it accounts for 44.7% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1989 when it accounts for 2.9% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1.3% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Philosophy and Public Affairs in 2003 when it accounts for 6.1% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1978 when it accounts for 0.2% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Journal of Philosophy, 7.2% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Journal of Philosophy in 2013 when it accounts for 15.9% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1931 when it accounts for 0.9% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 7.0% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research in 1997 when it accounts for 13.3% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1940 when it accounts for 0.7% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy of Science, 3.3% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Philosophy of Science in 1949 when it accounts for 8.4% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 2008 when it accounts for 1.0% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Noûs, 12.2% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in Noûs in 1995 when it accounts for 21.9% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1984 when it accounts for 4.0% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in The Philosophical Quarterly, 9.8% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in The Philosophical Quarterly in 1984 when it accounts for 18.3% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1992 when it accounts for 3.4% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2.9% of the articles are in the category philosophy of language. Philosophy of language is most prevalent in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science in 1980 when it accounts for 7.2% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1964 when it accounts for 0.7% of the articles in the journal.

Figure 4.18: Proportion of each journal’s yearly publications in Philosophy of Language

There isn’t much trend there. Within Analysis I guess there is a downward trend, though it’s so random before its wartime hiatus that it’s hard to say. Philosophical Review starts publishing philosophy of language articles in the 1940s then especially in the 1950s. (This is probably connected to Norman Malcolm moving to Ithaca.) Afterwards there is a bit of year-to-year variation, largely because the Review publishes so few articles. Before Ryle takes over there isn’t a lot of philosophy of language in Mind, then it is fairly steady apart from a blip upward in the 1990s. But otherwise there isn’t much trend here to speak of. Let’s instead look at the topics.

7 scatterplots showing which percentage of the articles in all journals in each year from 1900 onwards are in the each of the topics category philosophy of language. A brief summary of the data follows. In an average year, 0.5% of the articles are in the belief ascriptionstopic. Belief ascriptions is most prevalent in 1999 when it accounts for 1.6% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.9% of the articles are in the denotingtopic. Denoting is most prevalent in 1911 when it accounts for 2.2% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.5% of the articles are in the language normstopic. Language norms is most prevalent in 2013 when it accounts for 2.5% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 1.7% of the articles are in the meaning and usetopic. Meaning and use is most prevalent in 1962 when it accounts for 5.1% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.7% of the articles are in the radical translationtopic. Radical translation is most prevalent in 1975 when it accounts for 2.4% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.8% of the articles are in the sense and referencetopic. Sense and reference is most prevalent in 1998 when it accounts for 2.6% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.6% of the articles are in the speech actstopic. Speech acts is most prevalent in 1971 when it accounts for 1.7% of the articles in all journals.

Figure 4.19: Topics in Philosophy of Language

That’s more interesting. Four of the topics are almost absent before 1940. A fifth, centered around On “Denoting“, has a flurry of early century activity, then picks back up again in the 1950s. All five of them continue to be important to the present day, though a few of them look slightly down from their peaks.

But the dominant theme here is Wittgensteinian philosophy of language. It has a remarkable rise and then an equally remarkable fall. What surprises me is how much work on this topic the model finds pre-1900. It could just be noise—we’re talking at most 2 percent of a small number of articles. But the model doesn’t think that Fregean or Quinean philosophy of language turns up in these articles, so it’s a bit interesting that it sees some Wittgensteinian work there.

The rise and fall of Wittgensteinian philosophy of language is not symmetric. The rise took away from other parts of philosophy, but when the fall happened the interest simply shifted to other areas in philosophy of language. The result was that philosophy of language was stronger afterward than before, though the work that ended up being central was not the work that made philosophers take philosophy of language seriously.

There would be more topics here, and the overall graph would trend more sharply upwards, except the model itself thought that some topics that could have been in philosophy of language are better placed in logic and mathematics. I’ll come back to that in the next chapter.