The Magic Prism : An Essay in the Philosophy of Language: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Riverside Howard Wettstein Professor of Philosophy University of California, Oxford University Press, 2004, 0198036426, 9780198036425, 256 pages. The late 20th century saw great movement in the philosophy of language, often critical of the fathers of the subject-Gottlieb Frege and Bertrand Russell-but sometimes supportive of (or even defensive about) the work of the fathers. Howard Wettstein's sympathies lie with the critics. But he says that they have often misconceived their critical project, treating it in ways that are technically focused and that miss the deeper implications of their revolutionary challenge. Wettstein argues that Wittgenstein-a figure with whom the critics of Frege and Russell are typically unsympathetic-laid the foundation for much of what is really revolutionary in this late 20th century movement. The subject itself should be of great interest, since philosophy of language has functioned as a kind of foundation for much of 20th century philosophy. But in fact it remains a subject for specialists, since the ideas are difficult and the mode of presentation is often fairly technical. In this book, Wettstein brings the non-specialist into the conversation (especially in early chapters); he also reconceives the debate in a way that avoids technical formulation. The Magic Prism is intended for professional philosophers, graduate students, and upper division undergraduates.. DOWNLOAD HERE Reference and Description The Case against Two-Dimensionalism, Scott Soames, Feb 9, 2009, Philosophy, 384 pages. In this book, Scott Soames defends the revolution in philosophy led by Saul Kripke, Hilary Putnam, and David Kaplan against attack from those wishing to revive descriptivism in .... The Philosophy of Language , Aloysius Martinich, 2001, Philosophy, 599 pages. What is meaning? 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Designed for readers new to the subject, Reading Philosophy of Language presents important writings by leading figures in the field, such as Austin, Chomsky, Davidson, Dummett .... Frege's puzzle , Nathan U. Salmon, 1986, Language Arts & Disciplines, 194 pages. The Uses of Sense Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Language, Charles Travis, 1989, Language Arts & Disciplines, 400 pages. This book provides a novel interpretation of the ideas about language in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. Travis places the "private language argument" in .... Nomination of Edwin M. Stanley Hearing before a subcommittee, Eighty-fifth Congress, second session, on nomination of Edwin M. Stanley, of North Carolina, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina. February 6, 1958, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, 1958, , 8 pages. The late 20th century saw great movement in the philosophy of language, often critical of the fathers of the subject--Gottlieb Frege and Bertrand Russell--but sometimes supportive of (or even defensive about) the work of the fathers. Howard Wettstein's sympathies lie with the critics. But he says that they have often misconceived their critical project, treating it in ways that are technically focused and that miss the deeper implications of their revolutionary challenge. Wettstein argues that Wittgenstein--a figure with whom the critics of Frege and Russell are typically unsympathetic--laid the foundation for much of what is really revolutionary in this late 20th century movement. The subject itself should be of great interest, since philosophy of language has functioned as a kind of foundation for much of 20th century philosophy. But in fact it remains a subject for specialists, since the ideas are difficult and the mode of presentation is often fairly technical. In this book, Wettstein brings the non-specialist into the conversation (especially in early chapters); he also reconceives the debate in a way that avoids technical formulation. The Magic Prism is intended for professional philosophers, graduate students, and upper division undergraduates. "Wettstein proposes to dissolve these puzzles by showing that our capacity to talk about things is ultimately mundane and bereft of mystery. His book is thus a unique attempt to combine a sophisticated historical and substantive discussion of reference with a loosely speaking Wittgensteinian perspective on language and Wittgensteinians have much to learn from the result. Wettstein is also one of those increasingly rare mainstream analytic philosophers to speak with a voice which is distinctive without being obtrusive, and to display how even highly récherché debates can profit from the occaisonal input of common sense and wisdom. Wettstein has provided a highly illuminating and thought-provoking anthropology of our practice of using words to refer to things. It provides the perfect antidote to the widespread tendency of distorting this practice because of theoretical fancies and l'art pour l'art technicalitites."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Howard Wettstein's The Magic Prism is an excellent book. Written by an established master in the philosophy of language who has made seminal contributions to the debates he discusses, it is at once eminently readable and philosophically challenging. The book draws its title from Walker Percy, who calls language "the magic prism" through which we come to perceive and know ourselves and our world (p. vii). Building on this idea, Wettstein argues throughout the book that in semantics, we should refrain from beginning with mysterious and inscrutable topics like "soul, mind, ideas, consciousness" and begin instead with language, which is available and undeniable (p. 62). If you want to understand language, don't try to get behind it, explaining it in veiled psychological terms; rather, take it as the starting point and describe the practices that enliven and sustain it. The principal focus in the book is reference, and Wettstein spends most of his time defending the "direct reference revolution" against challenges from the Frege-Russell tradition and from the Kaplan-Perry direct reference apostasy. In the first two chapters, Wettstein supplies a nuanced account of the views on reference developed by the fathers of philosophical semantics, opening the book in a way that is reminiscent of Evans in Varieties of Reference. Chapters 3 and 4 find him adducing a compelling argument for considering the Kaplan-Perry approach to direct reference theory alongside the Frege-Russell tradition as targets for his critique, even given their significant differences. These disparate approaches hold in common a picture of semantic reference that Wettstein calls "Linguistic Cartesianism" (p. 66). Roughly, this view involves commitment to the following theses: (a) reference depends on what is true of individual speakers, and in particular, whether they have a cognitive fix on the referent; (b) the cognitive fix is cashed out in terms of mental and linguistic representations; (c) the contribution of reference to linguistic significance must be understood in propositional terms, and (d) reference is a semantic relation to be explained in more fundamental, cognitive terms involving the contents of propositional attitudes. The balance of the book, beginning with Chapters 4 and 5, presents a Wittgenstein-inspired approach to reference that involves the complete rejection of Linguistic Cartesianism. As Wettstein sees it, reference is a social phenomenon that can succeed even if speakers lack any sort of fix at all on the referent. Further, referring terms function within the social practice of reference as tags, working directly to connect speakers with the world without any representational