"This book studies the roots of analytical philosophy - that style of philosophizing that has for half a century dominated professional philosophy in English-speaking lands and is often called "Anglo-American," as contrasted with the "Continental," philosophy. This, Dummett argues, is a misnomer. "Anglo-Austrian" would be a better label, for analytical philosophy arose in the same milieu as the principal rival school of phenomenology. Not only that, but the two schools have the same roots. The two forebears of both schools are Bolzano, the first to deny that thoughts are contents of the mind, and Brentano, who made intentionality the defining characteristic of the mental. Analytical philosophy has been distinguished by the central place it has given to language. Dummett explains why what had gone before made this "linguistic turn" so natural, and why the school founded by Husserl failed to take it. By re-examining the similar origins of the two traditions, we can come to understand why the later diverged so widely, and so take the first step to reconciliation"--Book Jacket.