Philosophical Papers: Volume 2, Mind, Language and Reality

'Professor Putnam presents a powerful, coherent and persuasive system of thought. Ranging widely over the topics mentioned in their titles, the two volumes of essays yet have a remarkable degree of unity. Their themes overlap and are linked, as philosophical themes, seriously handled, must always overlap and be linked. In a period in which the general level of philosophical competence, as evidenced in publication, is extremely high, Putnam's work stands conspicuously out by virtue of its combination of technical sophistication, clear-sightedness, depth and power. Nothing of what he says is trivial, most of it is true and all parts of it are systematically interconnected. His prose - lucid, lively and unpretentious - is an excellent medium for his thought.' P. F. Strawson, The Times Literary Supplement

• Introduction; 1. Language and philosophy; 2. The analytic and synthetic; 3. Do true assertions correspond to reality?; 4. Some issues in the theory of grammar; 5. The 'innateness hypothesis' and explanatory models in linguistics; 6. How not to talk about meaning; 7. Review of The concept of a person; 8. Is semantics possible?; 9. The refutation of conventionalism; 10. Reply to Gerald Massey; 11. Explanation and reference; 12. The meaning of 'meaning'; 13. Language and reality; 14. Philosophy and our mental life; 15. Dreaming and 'depth grammar'; 16. Brains and behaviour; 17. Other minds; 18. Minds and machines; 19. Robots: machines or artificially created life?; 20. The mental life of some machines; 21. The nature of mental states; 22. Logical positivism and the philosophy of mind; Bibliography; Index.