Logocentrism was coined by Ludwig Klages in early 1900s. Western science views words as fundamental expression of external reality. Logos represents Platonic ideal and holds it as epistemologically superior
Nonsense refers to communication lacking coherent meaning. Many writers use nonsense for humor, satire, or language analysis. Chomsky coined "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" as a nonsense example
Philosophy of language investigates language's nature and relations with users. Western inquiry dates back to 5th century BC with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Medieval philosophers focused on language subtleties and usage. Modern philosophy's "linguistic turn" began in early 20th century
Born in Vienna in 1889, studied engineering at Manchester and philosophy at Cambridge. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus published in 1921, based on Russell and Frege's logic. Book presents logical analysis of world, thought, and language. Distinguishes between sense (logical) and nonsense (metaphysical) propositions. Philosophy is seen as activity of clarification and critique, not doctrine
Hermogenes, a wealthy Athenian, challenges conventionalist views of names. Cratylus, Plato's teacher, advocates Heraclitean philosophy. Socrates joins debate as arbiter between Hermogenes and Cratylus
Ambiguity is the property of signs bearing multiple legitimate interpretations. Lexical ambiguity occurs when words have different meanings despite homophony. Syntactic ambiguity arises from multiple LFs corresponding to the same sentence. Phrasal ambiguity involves different syntactic structures for the same phrase