The Ontology of the Analytic Tradition and Its Origins: Realism and Identity in Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and Quine

The analytic movement advertised its 'linguistic turn' as a radical break from the two-thousand-year-old substance tradition. But this is an illusion. On the fundamental level of ontology, there is enough reformulation and presupposition of traditional 'no entity without identity' themes to analogize Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, and Quine to Aristotle as paradigmatic of modified realism. Thus the pace of ontology is glacial. Frege and Russell, not Wittgenstein and Quine, emerge as the true analytic progenitors of 'no entity without identity,' offering between them at least twenty-nine private language arguments and sixty-four 'no entity without identity' theories.

About the Author :
Jan Dejnozka is a visiting scholar of Law and Philosophy at the University of Michigan. His articles have appeared in Russell, International Studies in Philosophy, Dialogos and The International Journal for Philosophy.

Review :
. . . comprehensive and detailed, historically accurate and philosophically acute, profound and clear. Those interested in the metaphysical foundations of analytic philosophy will find it very useful. This work is simultaneously a scholarly investigation of four of the most important thinkers in the analytic tradition, and a sustained critique of contemporary relativisms. This is a provocative and challenging reading of the analytic tradition. Dejnozka's superb expertise on Frege and Russell inevitably must be stressed. But his book is not 'mere history'; there are many sharp criticisms of major contemporaries. [T]he reader knows, at any point, exactly where he/she is in the development of the main argument. Combined with a precise, transparent style of writing the book is a treat to read. Particularly impressive are the novel insights and deeper interpretations which the author gives of the four analysts...[A] fine thought-provoking piece of research. This is a very ambitious book, executed with intelligence and argumentative skill. I regard this book as a most important contribution to our understanding of the course of analytic philosophy from Frege to Quine, as well as to our philosophical understanding of the topics mentioned in its title. [W]hat is still rightly regarded as the analytic tradition has indeed not only turned back to more traditional metaphysical concerns..., but also taken an interest, self-reflectively, in its own historical roots, with the expectation of uncovering metaphysical conceptions at work....Jan Dejnozka's book is a fine example of this historically motivated return to metaphysics, offering a detailed and scholarly elucidation of the ontological views of Frege and Russell.... Dejnozka's book contains a wealth of remarkable material relative to the classical period of analytic philosophy.