The pursuit of science: A study in Saussure's Philosophy of Science through the lens of a historical discussion

Saussure's lifetime goal was to define the scientific criteria for linguistics, the study of languages. In light of this, this paper looks at Saussure's discussion of analogy as the source for the various aspects of his theory about the nature of human languages. As part of this study, this paper introduces the history of the concept of analogy, from the classical grammarians and concluding with Saussure clarifying Saussure's position in the history of linguistics. According to the proposal, Saussure was less as a revolutionary and more as a theorist of his time who dealt with the challenges of his contemporaries. His uniqueness, accordingly, is in his ability to recognize the consequences of the conclusions from the conceptual analysis of analogies. Furthermore, this portrayal of Saussure's theory touches on his epistemological and ontological assumptions, more specifically it examines his thoughts concerning the question of what justifies the scientific value of a linguistic inquiry.