The Nature and Future of Philosophy
by Michael Dummett
(Columbia University Press, April 2010)
160 pp.
Description
Having spent decades teaching in American, Asian, African, and European universities, Michael Dummett has felt firsthand the fractured state of contemporary practice and the urgent need for reconciliation. Setting forth a proposal for renewal and reengagement, Dummett begins with the nature of philosophical inquiry as it has developed for centuries, especially its exceptional openness and perspective-which has, ironically, led to our present crisis. He discusses philosophy in relation to science, religion, morality, language, and meaning and recommends avenues for healing around a renewed investigation of mind, language, and thought. Employing his trademark frankness and accessibility, Dummett asks philosophers to resolve theoretical difference and reclaim the vital work of their practice.
Contents
1. Philosophy as an Academic Subject [excerpt]
2. What Is a Philosophical Question?
3. Philosophy as the Grammar of Thought
4. Science
5. Psychology and Scientism
6. Religion and Philosophy
7. Religion and Morality
8. The Influence of Gottlob Frege
9. Frege’s Analysis of Sentences
10. Frege’s Theory of Meaning
11. Gadamer on Language
12. The Paradox of Analysis
13. Thought and Language
14. Realism
15. Relativism
16. The Future of Philosophy
Michael Dummett was Professor of Logic at Oxford University until his retirement in 1992.
Review in Publishers Weekly.
Review in Library Journal.
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