A Brief History and Critique of Analytical Philosophy Though brief, analytic philosophy did for philosophy what Copernicus did for science. In an age when philosophy seemed stagnant and much of the world was turning to science to address life's big questions, a revolution needed to occur within philosophy to keep the practice relevant. For philosophy, this revolution occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, when British idealism governed philosophical studies. Known today as analytic philosophy, this practice and its major contributors challenged the thinking of classical British empiricists and developed a new wave of philosophy centered on the logic and structure of language. My goal with this article is to provide an overview and history of analytic philosophy through the views of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Van Wittgenstein and briefly touching on their theories. Finally, I will offer my critique of analytic philosophy as I believe that the study of analytic philosophy plays a vital role in developing a new philosophy and language for the future. The study of analytical philosophy began in the early 20th century with Bertrand Russell an aristocrat, anti-war activist, prolific writer, and brilliant philosopher and mathematician. Like many analytic philosophers, his work began in response to the dominant philosophy of the time: British empiricism. Russell opposed British empiricism by arguing that empiricism's main flaw is its vagueness and lack of clarity. Russell's main goal was the development of symbolic language, which in turn gave rise to his greatest contribution to the study of analytic philosophy: Principia Mathematica. In Principia Mathematica, Russell and Alfred North Whitehead founded and... halfway through the article... reached a point in human evolution where philosophy needs another makeover. For thousands of years philosophers and scientists have tirelessly attempted to understand who we are, where we come from, and what our exact purpose on this earth is. Perhaps we have reached a point in philosophy where these questions about life seem “meaningless,” but perhaps that is the point. Maybe life is meaningless, but I've found beauty in that. If there's one thing I've learned from this course and the philosophers we've studied, it's that life is meaningless... that doesn't mean we can't give it meaning. Works Cited Schwartz, Stephen P. A Brief History of Analytic Philosophy: From Russell to Rawls. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print.Klement, Kevin. "Russell's Logical Atomism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 24 October 2005. Web. 04 May 2014.