Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

195506

Replies to essays

Michael Dummett

pp. 219-330

Abstract

Crispin Wright" interesting essay examines, and throws useful light on, fundamental issues concerning realism. What first interested me in this subject was a perception of strong analogies between a variety of metaphysical disputes, each of which could be regarded as a dispute over the correctness of a realist view of a certain subject-matter. Often one may say, "of certain things' (metal processes, material objects, mathematical entities); but disputes concerning the reality of the future or the past could harldly be so described, and it thus seemed better to say "of certain statements". I never supposed that a precise analogy obtained between any two of these disputes, only that there was a sufficient analogy to make a comparative study of them fruitful. One of the points of analogy was the salient role that the principle of bivalence frequently played. The colourless term "anti-realism" was deliberately chosen because, although there was a family resemblance between the arguments employed by the opponents of realism concerning different subject-matters - different classes of statments - the metaphysical character of their conclusions different markedly. The phenomenalist opponent of realism concerning the physical universe adopted a form of idealism; the behaviourist opponent of realism concerning mental states and processes gave comfort to materialism.

Publication details

Published in:

Taylor Barry M (1987) Michael Dummett: contributions to philosophy. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 219-330

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-3541-9_9

Full citation:

Dummett Michael (1987) „Replies to essays“, In: B.M. Taylor (ed.), Michael Dummett, Dordrecht, Springer, 219–330.