This volume features a critical evaluation of the work of philosopher Michael Devitt. It collects more than 17 essays that provide an overview to one of the most influential naturalistic perspectives on language and reality. The contributors take issue, either directly or indirectly, with various aspects of Devitt's work. They explore such topics as reference and causal chains, epistemic optimism and scientific realism, naming and non-necessity, linguistic pragmatism, and more. In a separate chapter, Devitt himself replies to the criticism. He defends his theory in terms of the new arguments presented here. This will help readers to better understand the nature of language and reality. Devitt, in opposition to Noam Chomsky's orthodoxy, conceives of language as external rather than internal. He advances a causal account of the semantic properties of its expressions. On the other, he staunchly supports both common sense and scientific realism. This book will appeal to a wide range of researchers, students, and readers with an interest in analytic philosophy, epistemology, linguistics, psychology, and other related subjects. It provides a deep insight into the work of one of the most important living philosophers.

Hersteller:
Springer Verlag GmbH
juergen.hartmann@springer.com
Tiergartenstr. 17
DE 69121 Heidelberg

Andrea Bianchi is an associate professor at the University of Parma. He has published a number of papers on various topics in philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, and is especially interested in foundational issues concerning language. His current research focuses on the relationships between language and thought and the nature of the primal semantic relation, reference. Among other things, he has edited On Reference (Oxford University Press 2015).