by Michael Devitt (Author)
In this provocative and wide-ranging book, Michael Devitt argues for a thoroughgoing realism about the common-sense and scientific physical world, and for a correspondence notion of truth. Furthermore, he argues that, contrary to received opinion, the metaphysical question of realism is distinct from, and prior to, any semantic question about truth. The book makes incisive responses to Putnam, Dummett, van Fraassen, and other major anti-realists. The new afterword includes an extensive discussion of the metaphysics of nonfactualism, and new thoughts on the need for truth and on the determination of reference.
Author Biography
Michael Devitt is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. He is the author of Designation and Coming to Our Senses: A Naturalistic Program for Semantic Localism, and coauthor, with Kim Sterelny, of Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language.