Abstract

SummaryThe topic of this symposium gives rise to questions like these: How do we come to talk about nature in the way we do in science? In particular, what, precisely, are the relations between the “technical” language of science and the language we use in our everyday talk about the world and its contents? How, if at all, does the language of everyday life influence the language of science? In order to confront them, it is necessary first to clarify the conception of what “science” and “language” are. In the first section of this paper, I will be concerned with the question of what science is; in the second section, I will more briefly discuss what I take language to be, and will offer an interpretation of the relations between language and science. In the third section I will briefly discuss some consequences of the view I have presented for philosophy