Resources Of Realism: Prospects For 'post-analytic' Philosophy Prospects For 'post-analytic' Philosophy

This book is concerned chiefly with issues in epistemology, philosophical semantics and philosophy of science. It defends a causal-realist approach to theories and explanations in the natural sciences and a truth-based propositional semantics for natural language derived from various sources, among them unusually in this context the work of William Empson. It argues against various forms of anti-realist doctrine with regard to both the truth-claims of science and the construal of intentions, meanings and beliefs in the process of linguistic understanding. His book will be welcomed for its vigorous arguments and notable clarity of style. It will be of particular interest to teachers and students in philosophy, critical theory, science studies and the history of ideas. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Minimalist Semantics and the Hermeneutic Turn: On ‘Post-Analytical’ Philosophy....Pages 1-40 Complex Words versus Minimalist Semantics: Empson and Davidson....Pages 41-77 Doubting Castle or the Slough of Despond: Davidson and Schiffer on the Limits of Analysis....Pages 78-105 Complex Words, Natural Kinds, and the Justification of Belief....Pages 106-153 Realism, Truth and Counterfactual Possibility: Thought-experiments in Science and Philosophy....Pages 154-177 Stones and Pendulums: Joseph Margolis and the Truth about Relativism....Pages 178-218 Back Matter....Pages 219-247 Concerned with issues in epistemology, philosophical semantics, and philosophy of science, this text defends a causal-realist approach to theories and explanations in the natural sciences and a truth-based propositional semantics for natural language derived from various sources. Christopher Norris. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 219-243) And Index.