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The cover of Words and Things: A Critical Account of Linguistic Philosophy and a Study in Ideology

Words and Things: A Critical Account of Linguistic Philosophy and a Study in Ideology

Ernest Gellner

Can philosophy be reduced to studying how people use ordinary words, or does that approach hide its own assumptions?

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At a glance

Author
Ernest Gellner

Why read it

  • You will learn to ask a speaker to say plainly what they assume, instead of leaving it hinted
  • You will spot the trick of treating how a word is commonly used as proof that something is true
  • You will see how a fashionable school of thought can shield itself from criticism by claiming to be modest

Who it is for

  • A philosophy student puzzled by ordinary language philosophy
  • A reader who suspects some clever thinking is only wordplay
  • A student of the history of ideas in the twentieth century

Contents

  1. WORDS AND THINGS
  2. A CRITICAL ACCOUNT OF LINGUISTIC PHILOSOPHY AND A STUDY IN IDEOLOGY
  3. Chapter I: Of Linguistic Philosophy
  4. Chapter II: Of Language
  5. Chapter III: Of Philosophy
  6. Chapter IV: Of the World
  7. Chapter V: Of Knowledge
  8. Chapter VI: Structure and Strategy
  9. Chapter VII: Assessment
  10. Chapter VIII: Implications
  11. Chapter IX: Sociology
  12. INTRODUCTION
  13. CHAPTER I
  14. OF LINGUISTIC PHILOSOPHY
  15. I. INTRODUCTORY
  16. 2. FIRST APPROACHES
  17. 3. A THEORY OF PHILOSOPHY
  18. 4. A THEORY OF THE WORLD AND OF LANGUAGE
  19. 5. A THEORY OF MIND
  20. CHAPTER II
  21. OF LANGUAGE
  22. I. THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE EXPANDED
  23. 2. LANGUAGE GAMES
  24. 3. THE FOUR PILLARS
  25. 4. THE ARGUMENT FROM PARADIGM CASES
  26. 5. FROM FACT TO NORM
  27. 6. THE CONTRAST THEORY OF MEANING
  28. 7. GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE THREE FALLACIES
  29. 8. THE CULT OF THE FOX
  30. 9. EVERYTHING IS UNLIKE EVERYTHING ELSE
  31. 10. THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE LANGUAGES Or, Polymorphism and Functionalism
  32. CHAPTER III
  33. OF PHILOSOPHY
  34. 1. ACTIVITY NOT DOCTRINE
  35. 2. THE IMPERTURBABLE UNIVERSE
  36. 3. FLASHBACK
  37. 4. LOGICAL ATOMISM
  38. 5. LOGICAL POSITIVISM
  39. 6. LOGICAL CONSTRUCTIONS
  40. Damnation
  41. Salvation
  42. 7. COMMON SENSE
  43. 8. TRANSITION
  44. 9. APPEARANCE AND REALITY, OR MONSIEUR JOURDAIN'S REVOLT
  45. CHAPTER IV
  46. OF THE WORLD
  47. 1. THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE
  48. 2. NATURALISM
  49. 3. A SPECIAL KIND OF NATURALISM
  50. 4. THE BAIT AND THE TRAP
  51. 5. THE TURN OF THE SCREW
  52. 6. TRIPLE STAR
  53. 7. DE LUXE
  54. CHAPTER V
  55. OF KNOWLEDGE
  56. 1. THE CIRCLE OF KNOWLEDGE
  57. 2. MULTIPLICATION BEYOND NECESSITY
  58. 3. SOME CONTRASTS
  59. 4. REALISM AND IDEALISM
  60. 5. WHAT ONE LOOKS LIKE WHEN NOT LOOKING

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