Pour une analyse du discours philosophique

Abstract

Frédéric Cossutta : « Pour une analyse du discours philosophique » Strangely enough, philosophy -as opposed to other disciplines- has never been studied by discourse analysts. We may account for that if we consider that -as a self-instituting discourse- philosophy sets down its own functioning conditions and that relations between philosophy and language sciences are intricated and often ambiguous. This paper tries however to present the foundations on which an Analysis of philosophical discourse as such can be built, firstly in marking clear the epistemological conditions that would make it valid. In the second place, a close examination of the relationship between linguistic operations and discourse building activities (for instance with respect to textual analphors) makes it possible to replace this approach in a theoretical viewpoint that neglects neither the linguistic status of speech activities nor their connections with their institutional context. Lastly, a study of internal references in the text (examples here are taken from Spinoza's Ethics) brings to light-beneath the obvious density of the text -many reading possibilities which combine didactic necessities, expression and demonstration requirements into a doctrinal systematization.