The Seas of Language [Paperback]

Michael Dummett is a leading contemporary philosopher whose work on the logic and metaphysics of language has had a lasting influence on how these subjects are conceived and discussed. This volume contains some of the most provocative and widely discussed essays published in the last fifteen years, together with a number of unpublished or inaccessible writings. Essays included are: What is a Theory of Meaning?, What do I Know When I Know a Language?, What Does the Appeal to Use Do for the Theory of Meaning?, Language and Truth, Truth and Meaning, Language and Communication, The Source of the Concept of Truth, Mood, Force, and Convention, Frege and Husserl on Reference, Realism, Existence, Does Quantification Involve Identity?, Could there be Unicorns?, Causal Loops, Common Sense and Physics, Testimony and Memory, What is Mathematics About?, Wittgenstein on Necessity: Some Reflections, and Realism and Anti-Realism. Serving well as a companion to Dummett's other collections, the essays in this volume are not forbiddingly technical or specialized, and have relevance to many areas of analytic philosophy.

What is a Theory of Meaning? (I)
What is a Theory of Meaning? (II)
What do I Know When I Know a Language
What does the Appeal to Use do for the Theory of Meaning?
Language and Truth
Truth and Meaning
Language and Communication
The Source of the Concept of Truth
Mood, Force, and Convention
Frege and Husserl on Reference
Realism
Existence
Does Quantification Involve Identity?
Could there be Unicorns
Causal Loops
Common Sense and Physics
Testimony and Memory
What is Mathematics About?
Wittgenstein on Necessity: Some Reflections
Realism and Anti-Realism

Dummett maintains his characteristic mode of exposition of high ratio of insight per word count. And as usual, the required close attention and rereading is rewarded. --The Modern Schoolman