Description
Book SynopsisPutnam offers a sweeping account of the sources of several central problems of philosophy. A unifying theme of the volume is that reductionism, scientism, and old-style disenchanted naturalism tend to be obstacles to philosophical progress.
Trade ReviewThe book strikes one…as fresh and exciting. This is undoubtedly due to its highly critical approach to current analytical philosophy. Analytical philosophy seems recently to have been overcome by the need to reflect on and challenge its past. Putnam has earned the right to hit out at that past if anyone has. -- Max de Gaynesford * Radical Philosophy *
Putnam is one of the foremost philosophers writing today and this volume collects many of his forays in current philosophical discourse. * Reader’s Review *
Putnam has in mind the difference between respecting science and accepting materialist ideology. Specifically, he argues against metaphysical realism, the fact/value and fact/convention dichotomies, and reducing intentionality to physics or regarding it as a mere illusion, and for the connection between truth and justification… Putnam writes with his usual clarity and vigor. -- Robert Hoffman * Library Journal *
Table of ContentsIntroduction by James Conant 1. The Return of Aristotle A. How Old Is the Mind? B. Changing Aristotle's Mind(with Martha C. Nussbaum) C. Aristotle after Wittgenstein 2. The Legacy of Logical Positivism A. Logical Positivism and Intentionality B. Reichenbach's Metaphysical Picture C. Reichenbach and the Myth of the Given D. Reichenbach and the Limits of Vindication 3. The Inheritance of Pragmatism A. Pragmatism and Moral Objectivity B. Pragmatism and Relativism: Universal Values and Traditional Ways of Life C. Dewey's Logic: Epistemology as Hypothesis(with Ruth Anna Putnam) D. Education for Democracy(with Ruth Anna Putnam) 4. Essays after Wittgenstein A. Rethinking Mathematical Necessity B. Does the Disquotational Theory of Truth Solve All Philosophical Problems? C. Realism without Absolutes D. The Question of Realism 5. Truth and Reference A. On Truth B. A Comparison of Something with Something Else C. Model Theory and the "Factuality"of Semantics D. Probability and the Mental 6. Mind and Language A. Artificial Intelligence: Much Ado about Not Very Much B. Models and Modules: Fodor's The Modularity of Mind C. Reflexive Reflections D. Reductionism and the Nature of Psychology E. Why Functionalism Didn't Work 6. The Diversity of the Sciences A. The Diversity of the Sciences B. The Idea of Science C. Three Kinds of Scientific Realism D. Philosophy of Mathematics: Why Nothing Works E. The Cultural Impact of Newton: Pope's Essay on Man and Those "Happy Pieties" Credits Index
