Heidegger and Wittgenstein in Taylor's semantic dimension (Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Charles Taylor)

Charles Taylor identifies two disparate approaches to the philosophy of language. ‘Enframing’ theories attempt to reduce language to a non-linguistic explanation, while ‘constitutive’ theories recognize that language creates a different way of being in the world which cannot itself be explained without reference to the expressive and creative activity of linguistic beings. Taylor considers the latter approach to be the correct one, and attempts to account for this through his understanding of what it is to be in the ‘semantic dimension’. Meaning and value emerge through our being agents engaged with our world and with others. Taylor is influenced by Heidegger, and although both of these philosophers are pointing to something important, their search for transcendental arguments leads them to build an overly structured metaphysical space. By properly placing Wittgenstein between the constitutive and enframing camps, we begin to dismantle the semantic dimension while attempting to maintain the important insights held therein. The result is an intriguing shift away from scientific styled investigation of language, towards an aesthetic approach to language and human expression generally.