The Necessity of Private Language: A Conceptual Confusion Latent in Diverse Episodes of the History of Psychology

JOSÉ MARÍA ARISO

Abstract


The present paper aims to show how Wittgenstein’s so-called ‘private language argument’ (PLA) affects diverse psychological theories. To this end, it starts by describing the main lines of the PLA and explaining why the idea of a private language constitutes a logical impossibility. Then, it is shown that the psychological theories of Descartes, Locke, Husserl, James, Fodor and Chomsky presuppose the existence of a private language, so that these theories lack internal consistency. Lastly, it is clarified why PLA, far from turning Wittgenstein into a behaviourist, involves a critique of behaviourism.

Full Text:

PDF (Język Polski)

References


Chomsky N., Rules and Representations, New York, Columbia University Press 1980.

Cook J., Human Beings [w:] Studies in the Philosophy of Wittgenstein, ed. P. Winch, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul 1969.

Descartes R., Meditations on First Philosophy, Indianapolis and Cambridge, Hackett Publishing Co. 1979.

Fodor J., The Language of Thought, Cambridge (Ma.), Harvard University Press 1979.

Harré R., Tissaw M., Wittgenstein and Psychology: A Practical Guide, Aldershot, Ashgate 2005.

Husserl E., Logical Investigations, Vol. 1, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul 1970.

Husserl E., Cartesian Meditations, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff 1973. James W., The Principles of Psychology, Cambridge (Ma.) and London, Harvard University Press 1983.

Kenny A., The Verification Principle and the Private Language Argument [w:] The Private Language Argument, ed. O.R. Jones, London: Macmillan 1971.

Locke J., An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1991.

Watson J.B., Behaviorism, New Brunswick (NJ), Transaction Publishers 2009.

Wittgenstein L., The Blue and Brown Books, New York, Harper & Row 1965.

Wittgenstein L., Philosophical Investigations, Oxford, Basil Blackwell 1986.

Wundt W., Elements of Folk Psychology. Outlines of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind, London, George Allen & Unwin 1921.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/sectio-2013-0007
Date of publication: 2015-05-23 21:00:40
Date of submission: 2015-05-13 11:34:47


Statistics


Total abstract view - 765
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF (Język Polski) - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2015 Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, sectio I – Philosophia-Sociologia

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.