History of Analytic Philosophy

Analytic philosophy is the tradition that tried to clarify thought by clarifying language and logic, and this course traces how that project actually unfolded, from Frege and Russell's break with idealism, through Quine's attack on the analytic/synthetic distinction, to Wittgenstein, Kripke, and Anscombe reshaping what "meaning" even means. You'll do close readings of primary texts, write two essays plus regular homework, and defend interpretations in discussion rather than memorize positions. It pairs naturally with logic and philosophy of language courses, and gives you the historical backbone needed for serious work in metaphysics, mind, or epistemology downstream.