John Searle (Philosophy Now) (Paperback)

~ Nick Fotion (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Only a handful of recent American philosophers are widely read outside university philosophy departments, and John Searle is surely among them. Not only does his work ascend to the rarified heights of analytic philosophy, but he has carved out a niche for himself as a popular defender of commonsense realism and a gadfly to postmodern philosophy. John Searle is part of the Philosophy Now series, published by Princeton University Press, which offers engaging looks at some of today's most prominent philosophers. With consistently clear prose, Nick Fotion guides the reader through the nettlesome thickets of recent philosophy of language, explaining how Searle's philosophy of mind is in many ways a corollary of his views on language.

Fotion, a professor of philosophy at Emory University, does an admirable job of limning Searle's philosophical work. Searle first appeared on the philosophical scene in 1969 with the publication of his seminal Speech Acts, which detailed a new theory of how language has meaning. A student of the well-known British philosopher J.L. Austin, Searle elaborated on the importance of intentionality in language use. Of particular interest to a general readership is his latter-day combat with a cohort of intellectual opponents he calls "antirealists." The salvos appeared in his 1995 book The Construction of Social Reality, in which he defends the existence of objects outside our minds. Sound obvious? It's not, according to his adversaries. On this score, and on others, Fotion does a wonderful job of marrying Searle's polemics to his philosophical rigor. --Eric de Place

Review

This book presents a generally accurate and well-organized overview of Searle's philosophical work at a level that is suitable for upper-division undergraduates or beginning graduate students. The greatest virtue of the book is its clarity and responsible presentation of the material. There is no competing book on the market, and there will be demand due to the general interest in Searle's work not only among philosophers but also among literary theorists, art historians, and a broader range of humanist scholars.
(Sean D. Kelly, Princeton University )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691057125
• ISBN-13: 978-0691057125
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,849,031 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)