Philosophy of language occupies a pivotal role in philosophy. It is at once an area of cutting-edge research in its own right; a set of concerns which overlap logic, metaphysics and linguistics; and a tool with applications to every core area in philosophy.
The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Language is a collection of twenty new essays by internationally renowned scholars. Each contribution offers an authoritative survey of a central topic in philosophy of language, accompanied by an abstract and suggestions for further reading. Included are chapters on analyticity, anaphora, conditionals, descriptions, formal semantics, indexicals and demonstratives, kind terms, metaphor, names, propositional attitude ascriptions, speech acts, truth, and vagueness. An introduction by the editors sets the stage for extended treatments of theories of meaning and reference, and an investigation of foundational issues.
Suitable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate survey courses, The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Language is an invaluable resource for students and professional philosophers alike.