Perhaps considered the most formal school in Philosophy, Analytic Philosophers’ contributions have concentrated on the form of expression and use of language as a means of discerning and conveying truth. It is quite interesting to note that the founders of this school were greatly influenced by famous mathematicians such as Gottlob Frege who also had significant contributions in Logic. One may surmise that Analytic Philosophy is more of a synthesis between language and mathematics.
Dwelling greatly on the use of language even to the point of criticism by other schools, Analytic Philosophy gives good emphasis in the use of formal syllogism to arrive at a conclusion. In fact, they deem it but necessary to transform arguments into formal argumentative patterns and analyzing those patterns for validity first before even trying to obtain the material validity of the argument. To a formal debater, their methods can be appreciated quite well.
In the context of the academe, analytic philosophy is one of the most important components of a liberal and critical student body. Sadly, it is also the most neglected aspect of curriculum development in as far as the local public school system is concerned. While integration of something like analytic philosophy as early as high school or even elementary may seem like an arrogantly unfeasible claim, a critical mind will argue otherwise. The beginnings of training in critical thought begin with a good background in analytic philosophy, which in turn can be achieved by simply directing curricula to focus more on how students think. Analytic training involves asking thought-provoking questions, providing multilateral explanations and establishing an atmosphere of curiosity and wonder. In a classroom, this does not mean relying on current overused gimmicks or traditional “board to notebook” approaches. This means engaging the students in discourse even as early as elementary. Students nowadays lack the encouragement to speak their mind in class either due to their teacher’s unwillingness to tolerate new ideas or the class’ general orientation towards less intellectual and critical methods. The teacher should ask the right questions, make students think not just about facts but about opinions behind the facts. This is especially applicable to social studies subjects where issues can most certainly be approached multilaterally. Teachers must be acknowledging to other ways of approaching an issue coming from his students and acknowledgment does not stop (or even start) with saying “Yes, that’s your opinion but…”. The teacher should engage the argument, analyze it both formally and materially and treat his students with maturity. In this manner a classroom can be not just a repository of knowledge, but its source.
In conclusion, analytic philosophy’s methods are indeed a milestone in philosophical thought. Even critics of this school acknowledge their contributions to the point of making use of them themselves.
