ABSTRACT
The philosophers believe that philosophy is, in some special sense, an inquiry into language. The conception of philosophy is derived from various sources. In part, it is a legacy of logical positivism; it owes something to the example of G. E. Moore, still more, perhaps, to the later teachings of Wittgenstein. The part played by G. E. Moore is less straightforward. He himself was always careful to say that the practice of what he called analysis was only one of the functions of philosophy. To maintain that ordinary language is perfectly in order is to declare oneself satisfied with the conceptual system that we actually have, or at least with that part of it which is contained in the terminology of common sense. Not only does the verification principle play an essential part in the vindication of ordinary language; it also sustains the doctrine that the meaning of an expression is to be identified with its use.
