The Objects of Thought

Analysis The Objects of Thought is a rich book, full of ideas and arguments. Making room for non-existent objects is a complicated business, and Crane covers a lot of ground very clearly. So this is a great book for anyone who wishes to get a sophisticated overview of the debate about non-existent objects. Because I have only been able to discuss a very small part of this complicated issue, my suggestion is to go out and read the book.

Anthony Everett, Mind Ambitious, ingenious, and lucid . . . Crane's excellent book . . . has all sorts of interesting and insightful things to say about metaphysics, language, and intentionality. There is a great deal to be learned about these things from The Objects of Thought, whether or not one ultimately agrees with the details of Crane's positive view. Crane also has a fluid clear style that makes his book a pleasure to read. So I recommend it very warmly, not merely to those interested in the nonexistent, but to all those interested in metaphysics and intentionality.

Peter Simons, The Times Literary Supplement His discussion throughout is both delightfully clear and eminently sensible--a quality that is rarer than it should be in view of much recent metaphysical extravagance in analytic philosophy . . . Tim's Crane's account is, all told, of considerable merit, and can be recommended to anyone concerned with the nature of the mind.

Niall Connolly, The Philosophical Quarterly ingenious, full of insight and wonderfully clearly written.

Pierre Jacob, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews elegant and original.

CHOICE Crane offers a solid contribution to the debate on the problem of intentional inexistence . . . Highly recommended.

Michelle Montague, Analysis a rich book, full of ideas and arguments . . . Crane covers a lot of ground very clearly. So this is a great book for anyone who wishes to get a sophisticated overview of the debate about non-existent objects.


Guy Longworth, Philosophy I recommend it highly to those interested not only in the specific matters with which it deals, but also to philosophers of mind more generally.

Tim Crane is Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and a Professorial Fellow of Peterhouse College. He is the author of Elements of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (OUP, 2001), and co-editor (with Katalin Farkas) of Metaphysics: A Guide and Anthology (OUP, 2004). He is the philosophy editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and the general editor of the Routledge Encylopedia of Philosophy. Crane is also a member (by election) of the Academia Europaea, on the editorial board of Mind and Language, and a member of the Analysis committee.

PART I: OBJECTS ; 1. The problem of nonexistence ; 2. Existence and quantification ; 3. The nature of existence and non-existence ; PART II: THOUGHT ; 4. The structure of intentionality ; 5. Reductionism and psychologism ; 6. Thinking about specific things ; Concluding remarks ; Bibliography ; Index