Garth L. Hallett is Dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters at St. Louis University and the author of many books, including Essentialism: A Wittgensteinian Critique, also published by SUNY Press.

"Hallett's treatment combines impressive philosophical erudition with penetrating and insightful analysis." — William H. Brenner, author of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations"This book is a highly enlightening introduction to and survey of linguistic philosophy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The work is accessible to readers without a strong background in philosophy, and leads them through a wide range of philosophers and philosophies. This is not a mere survey, for the author develops his own position in the course of working through the views of other philosophers, and engages the reader in his project of understanding and defending the authority of language." — John T. Kearns, author of Reconceiving Experience: A Solution to a Problem Inherited from Descartes

• Preface1. The Issue of Language’s Authority2. The Question’s Centrality3. Plato’s Recourse to Nonlinguistic Forms4. Aquinas and the Primacy of Mental Truth5. The Tractatus: Precise Thought versus Imprecise Language6. Carnap’s Limited Linguistic Turn7. Tarski, Truth, and Claims of Linguistic Incoherence8. Wittgenstein’s Acceptance of the Authority of Language9. Wittgenstein versus Theoretical "Intuitions"10. Flew and Paradigm-Case Arguments11. Russell’s Critique of "Common Sense"12. Malcolm and the "Ordinary-Language" Debate13. Austin, Statements, and Their Truth14. A Lead Overlooked: From Meaning to Truth15. Kripke, Putnam, and Rigid Designation16. Quine, Linguistic Truths, and Holistic Theory17. Quine, Indeterminacy, and the Opacity of Language18. Rorty, Stich, and Pragmatic Assertability19. Habermas, Communicative Speech, and Validity20. Past, Present, and Future: An OverviewNotesBibliographyIndex

Garth L. Hallett is Dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters at St. Louis University and the author of many books, including Essentialism: A Wittgensteinian Critique, also published by SUNY Press.

"Hallett's treatment combines impressive philosophical erudition with penetrating and insightful analysis." — William H. Brenner, author of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations"This book is a highly enlightening introduction to and survey of linguistic philosophy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The work is accessible to readers without a strong background in philosophy, and leads them through a wide range of philosophers and philosophies. This is not a mere survey, for the author develops his own position in the course of working through the views of other philosophers, and engages the reader in his project of understanding and defending the authority of language." — John T. Kearns, author of Reconceiving Experience: A Solution to a Problem Inherited from Descartes

• Preface1. The Issue of Language’s Authority2. The Question’s Centrality3. Plato’s Recourse to Nonlinguistic Forms4. Aquinas and the Primacy of Mental Truth5. The Tractatus: Precise Thought versus Imprecise Language6. Carnap’s Limited Linguistic Turn7. Tarski, Truth, and Claims of Linguistic Incoherence8. Wittgenstein’s Acceptance of the Authority of Language9. Wittgenstein versus Theoretical "Intuitions"10. Flew and Paradigm-Case Arguments11. Russell’s Critique of "Common Sense"12. Malcolm and the "Ordinary-Language" Debate13. Austin, Statements, and Their Truth14. A Lead Overlooked: From Meaning to Truth15. Kripke, Putnam, and Rigid Designation16. Quine, Linguistic Truths, and Holistic Theory17. Quine, Indeterminacy, and the Opacity of Language18. Rorty, Stich, and Pragmatic Assertability19. Habermas, Communicative Speech, and Validity20. Past, Present, and Future: An OverviewNotesBibliographyIndex

Garth L. Hallett is Dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters at St. Louis University and the author of many books, including Essentialism: A Wittgensteinian Critique, also published by SUNY Press.

"Hallett's treatment combines impressive philosophical erudition with penetrating and insightful analysis." — William H. Brenner, author of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations"This book is a highly enlightening introduction to and survey of linguistic philosophy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The work is accessible to readers without a strong background in philosophy, and leads them through a wide range of philosophers and philosophies. This is not a mere survey, for the author develops his own position in the course of working through the views of other philosophers, and engages the reader in his project of understanding and defending the authority of language." — John T. Kearns, author of Reconceiving Experience: A Solution to a Problem Inherited from Descartes

• Preface1. The Issue of Language’s Authority2. The Question’s Centrality3. Plato’s Recourse to Nonlinguistic Forms4. Aquinas and the Primacy of Mental Truth5. The Tractatus: Precise Thought versus Imprecise Language6. Carnap’s Limited Linguistic Turn7. Tarski, Truth, and Claims of Linguistic Incoherence8. Wittgenstein’s Acceptance of the Authority of Language9. Wittgenstein versus Theoretical "Intuitions"10. Flew and Paradigm-Case Arguments11. Russell’s Critique of "Common Sense"12. Malcolm and the "Ordinary-Language" Debate13. Austin, Statements, and Their Truth14. A Lead Overlooked: From Meaning to Truth15. Kripke, Putnam, and Rigid Designation16. Quine, Linguistic Truths, and Holistic Theory17. Quine, Indeterminacy, and the Opacity of Language18. Rorty, Stich, and Pragmatic Assertability19. Habermas, Communicative Speech, and Validity20. Past, Present, and Future: An OverviewNotesBibliographyIndex