Communication Dialogue and Philosophy (original) (raw)

Anyone acquainted with Peter Serracino Inglott's numerous philosophical interests would certainly know of the importance he attributed to language as the central and defining feature of humanity. His views on language can be found in two texts, namely, Peopled Silence (1995) and Beginning Philosophy (1987). Peopled Silence is structured as a textbook and it provides a systematic elaboration of the various aspects studied in the philosophy of language (syntax, semantics, pragmatics and poetics), while Beginning Philosophy is, strictly speaking, not about the philosophy of language but provides a philosophical methodology. This text did not receive much attention at the time of its publication, with the notable exception of Mario Vella's critical response, Reflections in a Canvas Bag (1989). This paper will examine some of the issues raised in the early text concerning language, communication and dialogue. Given that language is so important to Serracino Inglott's vision of philosophy in particular, and of life in general, I will start 1. by providing an account of the communicative dimension of language; followed by 2. the reconfiguration of this dimension into dialogue; and 3. conclude with his claim that the method of philosophy consists in the analysis of language. The purpose of this paper is to provide an exposition of Serracino Inglott's views together with a critical analysis. Human Communication Given the 'linguistic turn' that has characterized contemporary western philosophy, first within Anglo-American philosophy, and later within Continental philosophy, it should come as no surprise that Serracino Inglott considers the philosophy of language as pivotal to philosophy itself. In Beginning Philosophy, it is the pragmatic or communicative dimension of language-as opposed to the syntactical (the ordering of words), semantic (the relationship between language and the world) or the poetic (the literary productions of language)-that is the focus of his interest .Serracino Inglott identifies human linguistic communication as a marker or sign of human identity, i .e ., what it is that makes us human, as opposed to other forms of communication, in this case, animals (Serracino Inglott 1987, p .85). He raises two points:1. Human