Mauthner, Fritz (1849–1923)

The work of Fritz Mauthner helps document the phenomenon of ‘language crisis’ or Sprachkrise in German-Austrian letters at the beginning of the twentieth century. In his Beiträge zu einer Kritik der Sprache (Contributions to a Critique of Language) (1901–2), Mauthner develops a theory of knowledge that draws on empiricism but also redefines certain basic concepts in terms of language. ‘Language’ refers to more than speech; it is the medium of all cognition and, as such, an instrument of knowledge. Mauthner’s reformulation of epistemological questions in linguistic terms does more than replace one topic with another. When language becomes the focus of philosophical debate, the debate cannot help but involve a discussion of the nature and limits of the discussion itself. As epistemology or theory of knowledge gives way to critique of language, it spells the end of philosophy as a foundational discourse for the human sciences.