Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language
Language: English
Published by MIT Press Ltd, 1987
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
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Condition: Used - Fair
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What is language? How does it relate to the world? How does it relate to the mind? Should our view of language influence our view of the world? These are among the central issues covered in this spirited and unusually clear introduction to the philosophy of language. Making no pretense of neutrality, Michael Devitt and Kim Sterelny take a definite theoretical stance. Central to that stance is naturalism--that is, they treat a philosophical theory of language as an empirical theory like any other and see people as nothing but complex parts of the physical world. This leads them, controversially, to a deflationary view of the significance of the study of language: they dismiss the idea that the philosophy of language should be preeminent in philosophy. This highly successful textbook has been extensively rewritten for the second edition to reflect recent developments in the field.
Seller Inventory # CIN0262540460A
- Title
- Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language
- Author
- Devitt
- Publisher
- MIT Press Ltd
- Publication year
- 1987
- Condition
- Fair
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0262540460
- ISBN 13
- 9780262540469
Although competing theories are given detailed discussion, the authors stake out a definite theoretical ground. Their perspective is naturalistic. This leads them, controversially, to a deflationary view of the significance of the study of language, a view that is opposed to a dominant trend in twentieth-century thought, represented in the work of such different thinkers as Rudolf Carnap, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Hilary Putnam, and Michael Dummett. They also favor the functionalist approach to the study of mind as represented in the work of Jerry Fodor, Daniel Dennett, William Lycan, and other creators of the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. And they accept and apply the insights of transformational generative grammar, while "remaining skeptical of its claims about psychological reality."
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