THE INFLUENCE OF EPISTEMOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM AND SOLIPSISM ON THE PRIVATE LANGUAGE ARGUMENT

Résumé

The private language argument constitutes one of the critical issues in the philosophy of language. It is basically concerned with the question of whether language is essentially private or public. The Later Wittgenstein, especially in his Philosophical Investigations, advances the view that language is necessarily public. His argument against private language leverages on his idea of language as a means of communication and expression of thoughts. While acknowledging that very laudable philosophical arguments have been advanced on both sides of the controversy, the present discourse aims at examining the private language argument as a basic concern in the philosophy of language. This is with a view to establishing the fact that arguments against private language largely correlate with arguments against skepticism and solipsism, and ultimately advance the course of human knowledge.