New Idols of the Cave: On the Limits of Anti-Realism

Part 1 Some dilemmas of post-empiricism - on the hermeneutic turn in philosophy of language and science: sources and contexts Heidegger - philosophy, science, politics truth, meaning and intentionality Adorno "contra" Heidegger two versions of depth-ontological enquiry realism, ethics and the "question of technology". Part 2 For realism in semantics - Empson on truth, meaning and interpretation: meaning-holism - "caveat emptor" propositional meaning and the context principle - Empson "versus" Richards Empson on Ayer - the limits of logical empiricism anti-realism and the hermeneutic turn. Part 3 Deconstruction, ontology and philosophy of science: ontological relativity revisited Derrida on Benveniste the truth of metaphor - Derrida on Aristotle metaphor, mimesis and the growth of knowledge. Part 4 Deconstructing anti-realism - Derrida's "white mythology": some versions of anti-realism Empson and Derrida on metaphor in science Nietzsche, Bachelard, Derrida Derrida and Benveniste on Aristotle of categoriality - language and thought. Part 5 Quantum mechanics and interpretation theory: waves, particles and Homer's gods truth, reference and trans-world identity anti-realism and its discontents. Part 6 Natural kinds, possible worlds and space-time covariance: having it both ways- physics according to Quine quantum nonlocality and the limits of anti-realism thought experiments - realism and the claim of reason.