With systematic intent, the authors trace the history of holism in analytical and (neo-)structuralist philosophy of language—from Hilbert and Saussure to Derrida and Davidson. As a consequence of this exposition, there is a far-reaching revision of both the linguistic turn and the more recent attempts to dismiss it in favor of various forms of philosophy of mind. To be "in the world of language" means to be a linguistic agent amidst the social and natural world, which becomes accessible and thus meaningful to the participants in a special way.