Pragmatism and the Question of Language: Words and the Rest

This essay highlights certain limitations in the way the so-called ‘linguistic turn’ became prominent in philosophy throughout the twentieth century. In particular, in line with the pragmatist approach – especially that of John Dewey – it emphasises the importance of the relationship between language and experience. The main aim is to show that those philosophical traditions which focus either on experience (such as phenomenology) or on language (such as analytic philosophy) overlook the most crucial point: namely, what language and experience owe each other, as well as their rootedness in a shared natural and social foundation.