On the idea of semantic analysis (On "Trés métodos de análisis semántico", from Max Fernández de Castro)

Abstract

The goal of this article is to clarify the sense in which the semantic project of Frege, Russel and Carnap may be correctly described as a kind of semantic analysis. To this goal, I briefly trace the history of the term analysis in modern philosophy and mathematics, under the guiding hypothesis that semantic analysis in early analytic philosophy belongs to a long tradition of adopting geometrical methodologies to the solution of philosophical problems. In particular, it adapts Descartes' development of formalization as a mechanism of analytic representation, for its application in semantics.